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Training Camp Running Quote Sheet

by
Staff Writer
/ Boston Bruins

BOSTON BRUINS TRAINING CAMP QUOTES

Wednesday, October 05, 2011BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIENOn how exciting it is to get into the regular season...I think everybody's excited about that. You know, training camps are not as long as everybody thinks they are and they go pretty quickly, but our guys are I think are excited to turn the page and move on and start a new chapter. I think that's the feeling I'm getting from around the dressing room.

On how he feels about tomorrow's game versus the Flyers following the banner raising and what it means for the team...Well I think that's- I alluded to that yesterday and I think that's going to, probably going to be our biggest challenge and the fact that we have to one second you're emotions are as high as they can get and it will be an emotional situation then all of a sudden you have to cut the cord and really focus on what you have to do and that's - get off to a good start and hopefully win a hockey game and against a pretty good team so we're going to have to be ready for that and I think that's a big challenge in itself and I think we realize that.

On how he feels about the changes Philadelphia made from last year and playing this new Flyers team...You know what, I have no idea what's going to happen with their team. It's not really that important to me. It's more what's going to happen with us as you know, but - even from the outside, as an outsider, I don't know. I know that they feel they've made some right decisions and they're the only ones who know whether it's good or bad and whether it's going to make them better or whether they'll stay the same but you know that's a decision that they decided to make and I know we're going to see some - a different team and you know goaltending was the biggest thing they seemed to feel they've addressed and they had a lot of - well they had a lot of depth up front and there's still some pretty good players there even though they lost some real good ones as well, but they replaced them and maybe a different look and we'll have to wait and see.

On playing Philadelphia's new goalie Ilya Bryzgalov....Well you know there's- he's been a pretty good goaltender. I think he's done well for Phoenix and he's a big goaltender, certainly don't mind him. But I mean, we're in the conference you know, even division that has some pretty good goaltenders so it's not like we're going into the unknown here and you know, from [Ryan] Miller in Buffalo [Sabres] and [Carey] Price with Montreal [Canadiens] who had a great season last year, [Craig] Anderson's played well for Ottawa. This is only in our division. There's good goaltending and I think the way goaltending in Toronto in this season they seem pretty confident there too but you know, when you’ve got the [Martin] Brodeur’s and so-on-and-so-forth, this is the challenge that you have almost every night and a lot of team say the same thing about our team - about our goaltending so it's just one of the pieces of the puzzle that you have to solve that and there's not a million ways to solve that. We've talked about that [at] length - you know, what they can't see, they can't stop so you don't want to go to the front of the net, it's going to be a long night if you're willing to go there, then you have a chance.

On the competition that is still going on for the third and fourth lines and when a decision will be made on those spots...Could be either or both. What I mean by that is that we're tinkering and we're going to see where we go tomorrow night. Some decisions are going to be made as far as who's going to be in and who's not going to be in and that doesn't mean it's going to stay like that. The perfect example is last year we started off with Tuukka Rask in the first game. Timmy [Thomas] got in there and really didn't give up his spot so the same thing is going to be basically happening up front with our forwards. Somebody may not start but if somebody plays and he gets a chance then he may not let that spot go again, so I'm leaving that open to debate.

On what factors go into their decision to start one player in line 3 or 4 over another....A lot of factors comes into it - you're - all the things you said certainly become part of discussion and who would be the better fit now - or we think would be the better fit. Just because we make that decision doesn't mean it ends up that way and you know, you go based on information that you have but in sport - that's the beauty of sport. I mean there's guys that you know, surprise you every year with great years, guys that you think will be good players for you struggle and so you have to adapt and you really do so basically we're going to start with something tomorrow that I doubt very much we'll end up with and that's how it goes .

On if he will spread out ice time and mix and match pairs and lines to help conserve the players...That answer, I can tell you right now, that's exactly what's going to happen. We're - it's not going to always be the same pairs and some games we may pair up some of those guys we liked together last year. I guess what we have right now with everybody healthy is first of all, in our top six which, we know who they are, we really feel comfortable about the mixing and matching that we're going to be capable of probably utilizing a little bit more of that back-end to hopefully spread some ice time out a little bit more. It's been a long year last year, a short summer and if we plan on hopefully being able to do that again this year it's pretty obvious that we're going to have to share a little bit more of that ice time in the back-end.

On the status of Adam McQuaid...He's still- yeah, he's still sick. He's battling whatever flu or bug or virus, so he came in today and we just decided to keep him off the ice again, but he's getting better and tomorrow I would say he's a possibility.

On if they have decided on who will get the second 'A'...Not yet. You know, obviously you guys all know it's not going to be an easy decision and that process is made between coaches and obviously you always get a little input from players and so on and so forth. But there's a lot of guys that could wear it and I know that it could be shared, it could be a monthly thing, it could be just a few guys and there's also guys that don't really need a letter to be leaders. As much importance as you guys put into it, we put as much but the meaning of it or what it's going to do to whoever has it, whoever doesn't have it, is not as big of an issue as most people think.

On how it feels to have so many potential leaders to choose from for the second A...Well it's- it's great because- the experience that we went through last year made those guys more confident, feeling like they can lead a little bit more. There's that comfort in that dressing room right now of guys that have been together for a long time so there's a lot of things that come into play- you don't need a letter. You know, you often use the example of Detroit because they seem to be a nice model for a lot of those things and there's a lot of guys on that team that could also wear a letter and they don't. That doesn't stop them from being a great team and doesn't stop those guys from leading on- by example whether it's on or off the ice.

On what he thinks of Benoit Pouliot so far...We've talked about - that question keeps coming up all the time and to me - I'm getting a little tired of repeating the same thing. He's just getting adjusted to our team. I think he's doing a fantastic job of that. He's feeling more comfortable and we like him and you know, as I said we're going to give him the chance to blend in with our hockey club and you know, our hopes is that he's going to be a real important part of that hole we're trying to plug and he's going to get that opportunity.

On what he thinks of Chris Clark....Same thing guys, I mean he's here. He's a guy with experience. We like that part of him. He's a guy that leads by example. He's been a captain, he grinds it out. There's a lot of things that he can add to the hockey club and basically at the end of the day, there's going to be some decisions made for a lot of things whether it's some surprises or deceptions. I guess that's the challenge that we have today at finalizing this stuff that we're going to end up doing this afternoon and I know that once those decisions are made, it'll be released.

On what about Tyler Seguin's being on power play that intrigues him...We talked about him taking a bigger role. I mean he's got a good shot, he's well. We ran two units of five on threes and he's on one of them and doesn't mean those are units per say but we just made sure that everybody from the power play was comfortable in different positions. So he's a guy that we're hoping is going to give us some important minutes on the power play this year and again this is us giving him that opportunity, it's him taking advantage of that opportunity and grabbing onto it.

On how he thinks Jordan Caron is adjusting to his new environment this year as compared to last year...I think he's a little calmer. He's not as nervous. Obviously he came up from Quebec league and- this is a player that's grown up in a totally, totally French environment so when you move from home for the first time or from that area for the first time and get into this kind of environment, there's an adjustment period but I thought he did a great job last year. I really liked his camp and obviously he was good enough to make our line up to start the season. This year he's a lot more comfortable and being with us during the playoffs and being around the players and so on and so forth. All those things kind of help but to me he's had a real good camp again this year, which he did last year, but there's probably a little bit more confidence there's probably a little bit more experience in his thinking about he knows what happened last year and he's not going to want that to happen again so that's the way he's thinking right now.

Tuesday, October 04, 2011MEDIA DAYBOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIEN, GENERAL MANAGER PETER CHIARELLI, PRESIDENT CAM NEELY AND PRINCIPAL CHARLIE JACOBSOn if the Bruins have finalized the roster at this time and what the status of Chris Clark is...PETER CHIARELLI: We're still in discussions with that and as far as the roster goes, it's - we've put Anton Khudobin yesterday on waivers so we're sorting it out today and that's all I can tell you right now.

On how the group feels good about how things have come together this year with the roster...CLAUDE JULIEN: Yeah, absolutely. I think we've done a lot of good things this year as far as getting ready for this upcoming season. We're touching up some of the things we want to obviously improve a little bit on and I thought the last few days when we took off and did some team building, I really liked the attitude of our guys, I really liked what I saw and you know. They say that chemistry plays a severe part in having success and I feel we still got that chemistry obviously with the same guys and then the guys that have come in and slipped in there, slid in there I should say, slid in there and have been well and accepted and done a great job at being accepted so I think there's going to be a smooth transition that way and you know, so as we speak right now before the first opener, no doubt, I think we're a team.

On if they believe in the threat of a Stanley Cup hangover and if so, how they will approach the issue...CHIARELLI: I've spoken to a lot of- whether they're managers, coaches or players- the common denominator is that there's - it shows itself in some shape or form like level or period of fatigue- physical, or mental fatigue. So we've done a number of things and we will do a number of things to try and address those things when we see them and we identify them. But it's unavoidable is what I'm told. I hate harping on it because sometimes I think it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy but all the people I've talked to a [man] have said that it does show itself up in some shape or form so we're just going to have to - you know we've had discussions amongst the group and we're just going to have to be on top of it.

On if they have built anything into place to take care of the issue before it arises...JULIEN: Well yeah, we've talked about that and you know we certainly give some extra rest. where there's some players or some teams that have had almost five months off and we've only had two so somewhere along the way you have to catch up and give your team an opportunity to be able to perform well right till the end again and that means sometimes rest - where we're fortunate that we have a lot of the same players back so it's not like you're teaching a lot, it's not like you're learning something new so we have that advantage right now it's all about you know our approach to the season that's going be the most important thing as far as the players and all of us are concerned how we approach it and the second part is going to be to make sure that we get enough rest but go all the stuff that's being talked about hangovers and stuff like that I'm not going to give you an answer because I'll have to deal with it when and if it happens so that's my solution to that.

On how they feel about the high number of home games on the schedule at the start of the season...CHIARELLI: It seems that if we had a lot of road games, I know we talked about it at the beginning, we've talked about it in the past about it being an advantage because you know, you're able to bond and that's certainly something that we've discussed as a group. You know, I don't think it's a disadvantage; it's just the way the schedule sets out. I think it's just something that - at the end of the year- the latter third of the year and in the playoffs we were a really good home team so you could look at it both ways.

JULIEN: Yeah, I just feel the same way. I think it's one of those things that is perceived as negative and it depends how you perceive it. We're going to perceive it as a positive and we're going to take the necessary procedures to make it a positive thing and that can also give you the great start that you want. If as Peter mentioned if we play as well as we did in the latter part of the season at home it can be a real big advantage. We can get off to an early jump hear, and an early lead and good jump and make sure that we're in a good position come thanksgiving.

On how the short summer, threat of the Stanley Cup hangover, and other issues will affect how the team's goalies are used...JULIEN: Well I think a lot of it is just like last year. We started off with two guys that we called number one goaltenders and they're still in my mind, number one caliber goaltenders but as you saw Timmy [Thomas] just took off and you know, you have to ride the hot hand and the same thing happens this year we've got two goaltenders that are in my eyes, number one goaltenders and we're going to have to see as time goes on and the one thing that's pretty obvious is you know is that with the amount of games that we player last year and where Tim is in his career, you have to think about making sure he gets the proper rest if we want to get the same performance from him so will Tuukka [Rask] play a bigger role, we hope so and but it's not going to take anything away from the strength of our team. If anything, it'll only make it better and give us some durability.

On how the hardships of the team, league, city and sport have affected the franchise....CHARLIE JACOBS: Personally, from my experience here in Boston, this season made it all worth it, if you will, I mean regarding the hardships of the league and those years that we weren't necessarily as successful as we aimed to be. I hope that we can continue this winning ways that we've experienced this past year we've talked about -extensively in fact- about Stanley Cup hangover, which you referred to , but I feel that by and large the management staff to my right here has done their best to address it.

CAM NEELY: I think you get a taste of winning it's a pretty good taste so we got a great group of guys, great character, still fairly young team for the most part that I think aren't tired of winning yet, so you know I think our future both with for this season and for years to come bodes pretty well for us. We're going to have some new faces in the lineup that haven't necessarily won so you know, they're going to be hungry as well.

On how Joe Corvo will help the power-play and other improvements the team has made to help the power play...CHIARELLI: He's got good skating, right shot, he's had significant experience on the power play and you know again, I preface this by the same comment I used before with [Tomas] Kaberle, it's like the positives or negatives of the power play doesn't rest on one player and that applies here to Joe. But it gives us different options with his right shot and he's got a big shot so there might be a little more speed there and that's going to help our entries so it's a little different look. I was pleased with our power play performance in the finals, doesn't mean that we don't try and improve it. This gives us a different look, we're going to have a little more- I think I generally, this year our team is faster. I've just seen that from the start to finish of camp. It may be one because of Joe and how he plays the game, it may be more of a contribution from [Tyler] Seguin or just maybe a collective mind set that is carried over so I think you'll see that in the power play also. Claude you can speak the specifics if you want.

JULIEN: I think it's pretty obvious. I'm just going with what Peter said, We're not putting all the pressure on Joe Corvo to come in there and change our power play so- he's a guy that likes to shoot the puck a lot, he's got a good, hard shot and not only that, I've seen through the preseason games, that he's a good heads up player and when he does shoot he doesn't always just aim for the net, but he aims for sticks and he's got a pretty good vision on the power play and the fact that when he gets an opportunity to shoot, he doesn't hesitate right there and then i think will certainly help our power play get better but I was going to say the same thing is when you got guys like Tyler Seguin now who's got a little bit more experience and you know his skill level, he can step in there and start contributing there. There's guys like Rich Peverley who's feeling a lot more comfortable with our team and he's had a great training camp. Some of those guys are going to obviously be new additions to our power play, so it's not just about one guy it's about bringing some players in who are ready and new players that have come in and as a group you hope that the power play is going to be better and it's unfortunate we put a lot of questions into our Power play. We won the Stanley Cup last year and we had a lot of other things from our team that did well and that struggle was there and that's just an area that we want to fix this year.

On how they feel about the new rules and restrictions on hits and if they feel it will change the game significantly...NEELY: Well I do like getting rid of the head shots, no question. I mean, you know, when you're losing some of your better players like we've seen for stretches of time out of the game, it's not good for the game. This will be a learning curve for the players on what they have to adjust to, especially if you're a physical player, it's going to be something you have to adjust to. The league certainly is taking a stand on head shots, as we've seen in the preseason but there was a ruling recently with [Ryan] Malone that showed that they viewed it as there's not much Malone could have done because of the way the player bent forward and still got a hit to the head but there wasn't a suspension so again it's going to be that learning curve where the players have to understand you know, if a guys in a vulnerable position they're going to have to let up. No one wants to see long suspensions but nobody wants to see guys out for lengthy times with concussions. I mean, the hopes are, it's going to change it for the better. Guys will think, are probably thinking about being less physical, I think you'll see that where they're going to be concerned about being less physical but once they figure things out you know, the last thing the league wants to do is take the physicality out of it . But, you know, guys are going be thinking about it there's no question.

CHIARELLI: I agree with Cam. It's evolution of this head shot rule is, one - it's the right thing to do. Two - the way it evolves the way players get used to it. I think you'll see a subtle change but I don't think -the crux of it - on the rule is if they make themselves vulnerable at the last minute, or last second, last nanosecond. The same way the players got used to the first set of rule changes after the last [collective bargaining agreement] had expired, it's going to take some time, but they obviously were very thoughtful about it. I think you're going to see -- I think it's a betterment -- you're going to continue to see a fast game and I think it'll still remain physical.

On if they like how active NHL VP Brendan Shanahan has been in explaining the new rules...NEELY: I believe so. It should help everybody from teams and management, coaches, players, media, fans. It should help everybody. I think one of the things the league heard loud and clear is they never understood why the rulings came down the way they did so for the league to be able to explain it with a video and tell you why you're doing it is beneficial to everybody and the players especially, to be able to understand why there was a suspension or why there wasn't.

On how eager Coach Julien is for Thursday’s home opener and how he will keep players focused on the game through the emotional festivities that will happen before the puck drops...JULIEN: Well I think it is a bit of a legit concern. It's a natural thing and as I mentioned before we earned that right and our fans earned that right to experience it. That's just a part of winning a Stanley Cup. I think our team is mature enough to be able to handle that, but you know, no matter how you look at it from us standing up front here to the players it's going to be an emotional night and somehow we're going to have to find a way -- the coaches and players -- to shift into gear here and realize that we also have a game to win and that's a challenge in itself but it's a challenge that we're ready to take and we're going to deal with it so it is legit. I think we're a team that as I mentioned earlier is matured enough with all the experience of the past that we will be able to put that aside when it's all done and play a solid game.

On how he will use his flexible line-up with so much backup and versatile players...JULIEN: Well we do have the options to mix it up. I think, you know, we've used some guys in different positions because of that reason. You know we've said if we needed to make some changes, we should be able to and that includes whether it's through our play or whether it's through injuries, you want that luxury and I think more than ever we have more of that this year than we ever had so it's certainly something that's nice to see and not just up front, but even on defense.

On how the Stanley Cup victory has affected the city and hockey community...NEELY: Certainly it's a long time coming for a lot of our fans. We've had fans that have waited 39 years, we've had fans that have waited 3 years. It's - you know everybody's talking about the Bruins. The youth hockey community in New England has always been fairly strong, I think it's gotten stronger. I think the parade showed what kind of a hockey city this is. You know, I've seen it for years, I knew it was there. You know, I think they've -- our community -- the hockey community in Boston, New England has really deserved this. They've supported the Bruins for a lot of years and they've shown their support the last few years. For me it was gratifying that this team, the coaching staff, were able to accomplish what they did, you know, to be able to deliver the championship to Boston and the Bruins fans.

On how they feel about Tyler Seguin's performance during Training Camp and their expectations of him in the regular season...JULIEN: I really liked Tyler's improvement so far. When you look at him from the beginning of last year and how he grew through the course of last season and this year he came into camp with a lot of confidence and sometimes that's what a year belt does and not just a year but an experience of a lifetime in the playoff and you know, he's come in here and you see the areas that last year were, I guess a bit of a challenge for him has now become second nature. He's going and battling for pucks in the corners where last year we saw him at times kind of look over his shoulder and this is all a natural thing for a young player to make that jump to the NHL as an 18-year-old so he's much stronger, he's much more confident and as long as he's like that his skills are starting to show even more. It's not surprising that he had a good camp but having said that we're still of the opinion that still has to continue to want to learn in certain areas and that will come with time and we're going to continue to give him that time.

CHIARELLI: To me he's been very confident , more comfortable in his skin and last year everything was new to him, this year he knows what to expect, he's obviously put in the work. He's got a good head on his shoulders he knows that he has to continue to put in the work but I thought he's had a real good camp.

On Adam McQuaid's leaving practice...JULIEN: He's just a little under the weather. That's as simple as that. No injuries.

On how the Bruins will keep the team grounded under the pressure...JULIEN: That's been addressed already and that was part of the team building, that's part of what we talked about this year and we've been talking to the team about that at length, that we understand that it's going to be there, it's going to happen and certainly we've been on the other side and done the same thing . I don't know how many times I've said this but 82 times we're going to be facing that kind of challenge but it really doesn't matter if in your mind you're comfortable as a team and willing to go out there and do the best you can that's what it's all about . You know we talk about them upping their game and then us upping our s and all it is about having that confidence to go out there and do those kinds of things and you know you can't just go out there worried about the other team's going to bring their best tonight you just have to be worried about yourselves saying how good are we going to be tonight how good do we have to be, let's go out there and be that team and that should take care of things.

Monday, October 3BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIENBOSTON BRUINS FORWARD PATRICE BERGERONBOSTON BRUINS DEFENSEMAN ANDREW FERENCEOn what the team did this past weekend…Claude Julien: Well Hi to everyone first of all. Just to kind of give you guys the location of where we were—we ended up on the Great Diamond Island—we were at the Diamond Cove on that island which is an island just off of Portland, so we ended up taking a ferry boat out there and there are some people that live on the island—that’s not a very big population—but we had an area where it was very quiet. It was secluded and we were able to do what we needed to do as a team. A lot of the stuff that we did was based around the water and our guys seemed to enjoy it. Although we had plenty of water coming from the sky yesterday, we also had water underneath us. It was challenging. It was a lot of fun and I think everybody enjoyed it. We just feel coming back from there that our group really enjoyed it but also got a lot of things accomplished as far as what we need to do this year to be competitive again and put ourselves in a contending spot for hopefully a Stanley Cup at the end of the year. A lot of things that were said were great. It was nice to have a lot of our players from last year back because a lot of that is about a follow-up and we understand that we have to be a little better and certain things have to happen and it was a great opportunity to go do some activities and also some good discussions.

On how this year’s trip is different from other year’s trips because they are defending Stanley Cup Champions…Julien: To be honest with you I don’t think it was any different at all. I think every year that we’ve done this team building we have given ourselves a challenge because there always is a challenge--I think that the same thing remains this year. We know it’s going to be challenging. As we know we are hoping to get back to where we were and be a repeat champion, so understanding that means that we have to make ourselves better and every year that we go into team-building we certainly work on certain aspects that we feel have to get better and some of the things not only have to get better, but things that we want to keep consistency that worked well for us—so it’s not just about working out the kinks, it’s about solidifying and reinforcing the things that were valuable and good for our hockey club in the past.

On how the last couple of days have been…Patrice Bergeron: Well I think it’s always a nice thing to do before the season--yes we do have pretty much the same guys from the past couple of years—with that being said, there are always things you can improve on and work on and it’s very important for our team to do that. I thought last year one of the reasons why we accomplished what we wanted—which was winning the Stanley Cup—is because we were all putting together in the same direction and were all so close together as a team and the chemistry was so good. I think we do have to give credit to those types of activities that help us build that.

On what gives them confidence in coming out strong after winning the cup…Andrew Ference: This is Andrew—I’ll take a shot at it first. I think one of the things that our team feels so good about is that we have a continuation from last year—we have so many players back. We have so many things that we worked on last year, whether it be systems or whether it be even just the relationships of the team. We have a very very tight unit here and it’s one of the big advantages I feel that we have over some other teams. Nothing is a given in this league—obviously every year is a test and I don’t think anybody on this team is pitying themselves. We all know how hard it is to even make it into the playoffs first off--let alone the little bounces and the good help that you need in the playoffs to have success. We know the challenge that faces us no matter what year it is—whether you’re defending or not. Everything that we built up last year we feel like we are just reinforcing and there’s some good carry-over from all the lessons that we learned last year in how to be successful. With all that said, you still have to go out there and prove it and actions definitely speak louder than words—so we’ll have to get some good wins under our belts to prove it to ourselves.

On why the team-building activities are so integral part to getting things off on the right note and getting the team together…Julien: Well certainly it’s important to us for numerous reasons. First of all, we’ve been apart for a good portion of the summer and obviously this summer was shorter than others, but what we like about it is it brings everybody back together. It put the clocks back to the right time and basically put everybody on the same agenda. I think our guys enjoy spending time together—especially this year, which is a little bit different from other years. We’ve got a lot of home games here in the first part of the season and I think thirteen out of the first seventeen games are going to be at home, so we’re not going to get that much of a chance to spend time together as a group and get real comfortable. When you’re at home you go your own way—you have your family, you have your agendas and those make it a little harder for guys to bond together, but this is a great opportunity and a great chance to start off on the right foot and is something that every year has worked well for us. As in anything that you do in life, if something works well for you, you don’t want to ignore it—you keep building on it and every year for us we see some benefits in team-building so we want to keep doing it.

On the name of the place the team went…Julien: It was Great Diamond Island—we were at Diamond Cove on Great Diamond Island.

On how they found Diamond Cove and whether it was a similar location as previous seasons…No. Actually this time the people that we work with--High Five--the team building company that we had last year. The one thing we wanted to do was find a different location. If we had the same players go back to the same location it would not have been a benefit to us. We changed the location but we kind of had to give them some direction of what we need and what we’re looking for--the coaching staff, for our players—so there were some different activities as well. A whole lot of stuff kind of came together, but people from High Five were the ones who found the area. I think everybody--the players--really enjoyed it. It was a nice island--secluded and we had everything we needed was at our disposal.

On what the team got out of the trip…Bergeron: I think it’s one of the tools to make us a better team--a better individual, a better leader--so you have to take those into activities and approach it seriously and we did that and we all had fun doing it. I think it’s always fun to go out there as a group and to spend some days together and to get to know each other. Yeah we’ve been together for a couple years now, but it’s the new guys that we bring in the group and make them feel comfortable and make them feel part of us--I feel like these will help them do that. Obviously with what happened last year coming into this year we have some challenges we need to address and talk about and it’s the perfect time to do those types of things and move forward.

On losing Mark Recchi and his leadership…Ference: Well I think that it’s been addressed this off-season about losing that kind of leadership. I think with Rex (Mark Recchi), his departure for us as a team is so clear. Right from training camp last year--he told us right from day one that if we won he was done. I think that as a team we all kind of knew that especially after we won we weren’t waiting to hear if he was going to come back or not--we knew that was it for him. I think that you lose him as a person--his leadership as a person—but what we gained as teammates, whether it’s some of us older guys or guys who are in their first year, he taught us so many lessons, first off how to play and the desire and drive it takes to win. But off the ice, just the style of leading--it’s just a natural kind of leadership quality that he had. He was just himself. He did things the right way and we took a lot out of that. As much as we’re going to miss him as a person and as a leader, we gained so much. From the time that he was here I think his legacy will continue on in a lot of us guys, especially the young guys.

On the importance of team bonding…Julien: Yeah I think that a lot of it is valid. First of all, you’re talking about team building and a lot of teams are doing it now. For us what it does besides reinforce some of the things-- most of the time where coaches would have a team meeting with the team before the season started and went through rules and you went through your expectations and everything and players are sitting in there and they’re not listening to you over an hour and that one point—it’s not something that’s a lot of fun. They sit there and at one point they keep asking themselves when this is going to be done and over with. When you do team building they a take a hold of a lot of things you want to accomplish during the season in place through different activities, through different discussions at different times and it’s spread out instead of all cramped up in one hour or an hour and a half--I think that makes our job a little bit easier once we get back to the rink. We don’t have to go through all of this because I think now we’re coming back from team-building and the message of what we need to do this year is pretty clear--it minimizes all the congestion that we could have just before season starts. A day or two before for now we have got together. At the same time there is no doubt you see patterns in players, whether it’s through the game and then when you see them in group activities and stuff it certainly makes you understand that little bit more why they are like that. Some people are thinkers, some people are more about, “You just let me know what you want me to do and I’ll do it.” Everybody’s different in those areas and none of those are bad things—they’re all good things--all we have to do is blend them together. I think our excitement right now is that we have such a good tight close-knit group. Right now we’re not a group that has egos and we don’t plan on having egos. We just want to make sure we’re all on the same page before the puck drops and as Andrew alluded to earlier, we want to show it more than we want to say it. Words right now aren’t worth much. Our actions are what are going to show people what we’re ready for this year.

On whether he can gauge the psyche of the team right now…Julien: I don’t think we’re--it does mean that we can look back into the past and work with the things that are going to help us get through this year. I think we have got to take what’s important from last year and carry it over to this year, but you don’t sit back and say, “Yeah we’re champions and everything should fall into place.” We understand the challenge of it, but I think our players--some of them have talked about the dream of winning the Stanley cup. You don’t always see it happening and when it does happen, the one thing that it does for you is that it lets them think we can do this again. Now we have the tools and we’ve got the experiences behind us of having won so we need to take advantage of that and use it. But we’re certainly not a group that’s over-confident and we’re certainly not a group that’s just going to think that we’ve got it made or that it’s going to be a repeat season for us. We don’t really want to use the word repeat because we know how hard it is. We just want to go about our business one step at a time. We always approach our seasons like that--we’re not talking about the playoffs because we have 82 games to play before we even think about the playoffs. If we don’t do a great job with those 82 games--you don’t want to waste your breath on playoffs so we need to focus on what’s important right now and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to go through the things that we need to go through as a team and we’re going to start all over this year like we did last year, but this time we just have a little more experience than we did last year.

On what else he needs to do to get the team at the right level for another cup…Julien: Well I like our group. I think our group is a good group--it’s a very humble group. I like where we are right now. Again, the right things are ahead. Now we have to do the right things. My feeling is from knowing these players they have the right attitude and what they need to say and what they really mean. I’m pretty confident that we’re going to be okay. Having said that, don’t misread my comment that I said about this year. We know there are going to be challenges that every team that’s won that Stanley cup--some ups and downs during the season and hopefully by the end of this we’ll be in a position where we’ll be able to challenge for another cup.

On what he expects of Tyler Seguin…Julien: Well with Tyler it’s pretty simple. He’s got a year under his belt--he’s got a lot more experience. We understand, too, that he’s a high quality player--high level or skill. I think right now the way he’s conducted himself in training camp is that he’s given himself the opportunity to bring a lot more--to play a bigger role--and a lot of that is going to depend on Tyler and how much he wants it and how he’s going to be—we need to see--you know, the responsibility is known--only on the one side, it belongs to both. We have to give him that opportunity--I think he’s earned it--now he’s got to show us that he can maintain it. If he does that I think you’re going to see him play in some pretty important situations and make the role that he did last year.

On if Seguin will be playing center or wing…Julien: You’re probably going to see a little bit of both from him. Number one, when you look at what we have at center and where they are--when you have a David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron and Chris Kelly--he’s such a good two-way center-man--and Gregory Campbell. In Tyler’s case you don’t want him playing center-man, it’s not the role that’s vying for him, but at the same time it’s not easy for him to come in and take David Krejci’s or Patrice Bergeron’s spot, so the chance of him playing center would be from injures along the way. The coaches switch lines along the way to get people’s attention at times. The one thing we know is that these people will find both and we’ll find him depending on the flow of the chemistry of our team.

Wednesday, September 28BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIENOn if today's practice was more manageable due to the lower numbers that remain after the recent cuts...Yeah it is. I mean we're getting down to the last couple of preseason games and we start next week so it's important that we bring our numbers down and the players that are left here right now are guys that have earned their right to stay and have a look and battle for a spot.

On if the competition is intensified because the contenders now know exactly who they need to beat out for a spot...I think so; I think it gets pretty obvious at the end who you're battling against and for the most part. At the same time it's good competition. I think it's- I don't mind that at all- and that doesn't mean that those guys are only fighting for open spots. They can be taking somebody else's spot if we feel that they're a step ahead of them. We got a chance to see some of those guys in the next couple of games and then hopefully, they'll make our decisions as hard as possible.

On how he feels about the competition he's seen so far for the defensive spot...It's tough. Right now, there's, you know, there's a couple of guys that are there that are pretty even and each bring a certain element that we like, so now it's a matter of them battling for that spot. It's pretty obvious that both those guys were on our radar last year. Either they were call ups or they were here for part of the season and again it's that same battle that happened last year.

On the value of Matt Bartkowski getting the experience of having been through all of preseason last year and being called up...I think all those things are valuable because those guys had an opportunity to be around the team and when they did get called up like they did last year; it was an easier fit for them. They've been around our players for most of the camp and team building and I think that it's an asset and that's what we plan on doing again this year- making sure that we bring some of those guys with us that we plan on bringing up through the course of the year. I think that it's important for those guys to be around us, that team building- through the team building process and I don't think that'll change this year.

On if Bartkowski would be better off developmentally getting full playing time with Providence or getting to skate with the Boston team...Well, right now, you're sort of speculating that he's going to Providence. We're not there yet. I think he's as good a candidate as anybody else at staying here so that's a question I wouldn't answer because we're not there yet.

On if the Bruins veterans might be pushed out by some of the players that are at camp for a tryout...Well I think you guys all know that every year we've had guys step in and we've had guys that were released or sent down and that's not going to change. I don't think that the organization as a whole wants that to happen. I think we've taken pride in giving the players that deserve to be here that opportunity and we've tried to stay away from politics of the sport and go with the guys that deserve it.

On if any of the Bruins returnees needs to step it up to protect their spot...All I'm saying right now is that the guys that deserve to be here will be here and you know, you guys can come to whatever conclusion you want, but I think right now the spots are open for the guys that deserve to be here and I think I more or less answered that earlier by saying you know, we've had guys in the past that have been pushed aside and other guys that have taken their spots so that means yes right? I guess.

On the value of Joe Corvo and what he can bring to the team and the Bruins power play...Well everything. I think Joe is one of those guys that I find has gotten better with experience and from the day of his- you know, when he first came in the league where he might have been a little bit more high risk and he's really toned down his game a little bit and knows his strengths and weaknesses and stuff like that. I think he plays within his strengths and one of the things that we like about him- obviously he skates well, he moves the puck well, he'll carry it when he has to carry it, he competes hard, he's a battler, he's got a great shot, he'll help our power play so there's a lot a lot of assets and there's not much for us to complain about this guy. he's got the right attitude and I think that with time he's going to fit in even better and right now I like the way he's blended in, not just on but also off the ice and we feel comfortable with him.

On Max Sauve's improvement from last year and where he's at now...Well it was better the other night and you know we addressed it with him before the game and the one thing that he is- we all know he's got skill, we all know he's got speed and you know, he's a guy that's pretty dangerous around the net and he showed that in Providence last year and I think he has a lot of attributes that will allow him to play in the NHL. But in order to be an NHL regular, you have to do a little bit more than just skate and shoot and the one thing is that- you know, competing for that loose puck which you hear me say a lot about players, you know, if you're- I'm not a big fan of players who go in the corner and come out with the puck once out of every ten tries. And you don't have to be physical, you don't have to bowl people over, you just have to want it -- that puck -- bad enough that you want to come out with it. Whether you use your skill or use your body or your -- the physical aspect of your game -- whatever it is that you have, use it. I don't care, a skilled guy can go in there and be smart enough to come out with the puck if he really wants to and that's the part that I keep putting a lot of importance to when I talk to players about that; whether it was Tyler Seguin last year- we saw the same thing. Tyler's a much better player this year when it comes to competing for those loose pucks and you know we need to see that from Max as well.

On what improvements he's seen in Jordan Caron...Well you know, I just think he's been skating very well and we know he did that last year too. You know he started off and skated really well and then somehow his game kind of went down a little bit - downwards for the level of the NHL. So we thought his skating needed to be better and so far he's shown that he's capable of skating, even on the top line and with some skill and speed. I think he's done a great job. I like the way -- again we talk about competing -- he's gotten to the corners and he's used his strength and his body to come out of there with the puck. He's done a great job in front of the net, he's had a lot of great opportunities as well shot-wise and stuff like that so he's doing a lot of things that has really put him in a real good position. I think right now he's got his foot in the door more than he's got the other one out.

On how he feels about what he's seeing from Benoit Pouliot...Well I think we're going to do the same thing here as what I said last week with Pouliot -- is that he's a guy coming into our organization with a different kind of game that he's maybe used to, just like [Chris] Kelly and [Rich] Peverley .You know we all said before the playoffs started that when we got those two guys they didn't bring that much, they were just other bodies but when they got into the playoffs they were pretty good players so sometimes you need patience and you need guys to -- you know -- I know he can skate, I know he can shoot. And you know, the rest is going to be up to him to show us that he's adapting and that he's going to be a better player and we have to allow him that opportunity and then when that opportunity is given and we feel he's had enough time then we make those decisions.

On if tomorrow night's game is more about evaluating players or getting into details about how the team will play in the regular season...Well we started doing that today in practice. We had five lines and eight D’s, I think we're pretty close to the group that we want to be able to work on the stuff that we want to work on as a team. I still think we have room -- even with those two games -- to evaluate players, because I mean, most of our team is back so it's not like we're evaluating ten new players. We've got some spots that are open and there's certain players that we want to have a better look at and we've got that opportunity. I think our guys, with just having a couple of months off; I don't think they've lost that chemistry. I don't think they've lost much and you can see it out there that they're pretty comfortable with each other whenever you put those guys back as lines so we're going to continue to evaluate as far as I'm concerned and probably till the last game and our full squad you may see for the first time in the first league game.

Sunday, September 25, 2011BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIENOn Nathan Horton playing again…I think that goes for a couple of those guys. Nathan is more of a – we just make sure he felt comfortable with everything else and he could have played probably other games. But it was more of a – this time of year you’re going to be more cautious than you’re going to be risky. Gregory Campbell is playing his first game tonight as well. And Joe Corvo didn’t pull a groin, just had a tight groin so we pulled him back. We pulled [David] Krejci back with post-game issues. So we’re really being cautious but for [Nathan Horton] Horty it’s probably more special because he didn’t get a chance to play in that – or finish off that last round – for him to come back is going to be pretty exciting for him. I’m looking forward to that and I think he’s looking forward to it as well.

On making the rosters for the preseason games…As you can see there’s two extra lines out there, there’s five extra D. So we’re going to [with] these next four games here, most of those guys are guys that are contenders more or less. And guys that are – even if they don’t make the team – guys that you may call up during the regular season. Everybody is going to get an opportunity to play in those games. I can tell you now Patrice Bergeron probably won’t play any of those games. He’s in Bathurst and he’ll meet us tomorrow morning in Montreal and practice with the team. But I don’t anticipate playing him. Other than that I’m pretty sure, unless I’m wrong, everybody’s going to get a chance to play in those games. And you’ve got the line up for tonight and tomorrow. Maybe half of those guys are going to be out and if you don’t have the lineup, it’s not a secret we can give you those as well.

On Brad Marchand and focusing on hockey…Yeah, he has. I think that’s the one thing you’ve just got to taper down a little bit. I think his summer’s been pretty busy and I think right now it’s more about focusing on hockey. My message to teams that I’ve always had have always been about let’s be humble here. You’ve heard me say that many times. This is a game that can bring it back down to earth pretty quick. You’ve just got to understand that there’s a new challenge this year. Everybody, as you know, is going to be gunning for us this year. We’re going to have our hand full. And if we don’t have our players focused properly, it could be a tough year for us. So we need those guys to understand that and I think he’s understood it. His purpose on the ice has been of working hard and I liked his game against the [New York] Islanders. With that line they seem to be clicking pretty well. So tonight’s another challenge for him. He’s in his hometown and he gets an opportunity here to show us that he’s going to stay focused on what he does best and he’s not going to try to get out of his element.

On Marchand vs. other teams…Well he’s done different things. Like you said, he’s gotten under other team’s skins t times when he’s been the target. He’s also been one of those guys that have scored some big goals and made some big plays that allowed us to win. You can even think about his shorthanded goal he scored here against Vancouver that was a big goal for us at the time. So those kind of things. He has an impact on games in different way at different times. It’s not an easy job to be able to maintain that but that’s what he’s got to do.

On complimenting Zdeno Chara…Complimenting him by putting a defenseman with him that’s going to compliment his game? Well it’s pretty important. Two things here. You want the puck to move well. And because when he plays against other teams’ top lines, there’s been a lot of times when we’ve gone head to head with our top line. We really feel our team is at that level now that we don’t have to get that defensive trio out there and say “shut those guys down”. Our team has grown to that point where we feel pretty comfortable a lot of times. So in order for our top lines to play against their top lines you want the back end too to be able to compliment our forward line and give some offense. So it’s about doing that but at the same time you got to make sure that guy that’s playing with him also is capable of handling the other teams’ top line. So you could see changes this year game through game. Whether you see Dennis Seidenberg with him, which was an unbelievable pair last year. Or because of the fact that it’s been a long year and we maybe need to balance three sets, three pairs of Ds and that’s what we may be looking at different games. So it may not look that the ideal situation in the short term but it may be the ideal situation in the long term.

On David Warsofski…Yeah he’s one of those guys that moves the puck well. And I think right now he’s got the right talent to play in this league. I think it’s a matter right now of letting him get some experience at this level. I mean yeah he’s going to make the odd mistake here or there but he’s going to learn from those situations and the only way he can learn is by playing so definitely he’s one of those guys we have on our radar and we want to see more of. And that’s why he’s still here. And we want to see how well he adapts and make a decision according to that. Whether he stays as a seventh or he goes down, we know he’s an easy call up. At the end of training camp we want to have a clear picture of where he fits. He does pick his spots. And what I like about him so far is that he’s not intimidated and he’s doing what he feels is right for him. And that’s where you get a better chance to make it a name. And probably establish yourself as a player is by finding out how far you can go with your game and where you have to adapt your game too. And sometimes you realize “well jeez I got away with that at the college ranks. I was able to do that but over here they make you pay for it. So I maybe got to adjust my game.” And he’s a smart individual and that’s what he’s figuring out right now. We’re seeing those things and we’re letting him play his game. You see game after game where he’s making those adjustments and know where to not take that big risk but also when it’s time to go he’s not afraid to go. You’ve got to let guys I guess play within their strengths. Let them explore a little bit in order for them to be comfortable and better.

Saturday, September 24, 2011BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIENOn trimming the roster…Well I think at one point you’ve got to makes some decisions on some players and you’ve got to give some players some more game-time and trimming that roster is not just trimming it for the sake of what would be more comfortable for us, but more about knowing where you’re going with this team right now and we’ve still got a lot of the guys that returned, so there’s not a ton of spots available and we felt that a lot of those young guys that we feel will play here one day are just not ready right now. So we’re going to send them back to their junior team, and there’s some guys that will benefit more from going to Providence and then playing and then getting some pro games under their belt there, so the rest of the guys, we more or less have about six lines and I think it’s about eleven D’s right now, so we’re able in these last four games, give everybody an good opportunity either to get their game fine tuned, if the guys that were here last year that are veteran players, and guys that are fighting for a job, they’ll get an opportunity in these next four games here to show that they belong.

On Dougie Hamilton…I don’t think there’s much. He’s just a young player. He’s going to fill in and he grew already this summer -- over the course of the summer -- I think a couple of inches. If I’m correct he is 6”5 now instead of 6”3. Obviously he’s an eighteen-year-old, he’s got to fill in and he’s got a lot of room to fill in as far as being able to continue to skate well. To me, I saw a lot of great assets from this young defenseman. For his size, his skating is very strong. I thought he moved the puck well. He’s also a guy that took the ice that was given to him, a good heads-up type of player, has great hockey sense, has all the tools to become a real solid NHL defenseman. So right now it’s maybe more about age and giving him a chance to continue to fill into his body and get some more experience, get a little older and more experienced, so that’s basically it. We’re not finding faults here; if anything, we’re excited from what we saw from this young player.

On the competition for the seventh defenseman spot…Well we still have got some, more than those two guys here, and that means we want to continue to have a look at those guys, but no doubt. Steven [Kampfer] was here, Matt [Bartkowski] was here last year, and they certainly have a little bit of edge in that in regards to, but we’ve still got McKelvie, I think he’s done a fabulous job for a guy that hadn’t played in a couple of years and we’re kind of monitoring his progression here as we go along. Colby Cohen is another guy who I thought has good size and maybe not the extreme physical player, but certainly a guy that moves the puck extremely well, and there are some guys that are still here, like I said, [David] Warsofsky is again, another guy that maybe size-wise, not big, but his mobility is extremely good and he can move the puck well. So a lot of guys still that we’re looking at and at one point the one thing we know is that those guys are all young players, they’re also easy guys to bring in and send back without the waivers, so it doesn’t mean necessarily that it only has to be one guy that’s the seventh player; it could be, but it doesn’t mean it has to be.

On Jamie Arniel…Well Jamie really had a tremendous year last year. I think as far as progressing, he’s a really good skater, he’s got good speed, and also I just think from watching him in practice he’s got a quick release, he’s got a really good shot and I think it’s about giving him a little bit of time. I found that the last -- maybe the last little while -- fatigue is set in a little bit with him and he’s slowed down maybe half of a step, but he’s going to pick it up again and I don’t mind his game at all. Again, he’s a smart player, he’s a gritty player, he’s not afraid to use his speed along the boards and take it from the outside and bring it to the net, so he’s got a lot of upside to him and certainly I’ve seen him back-check and really take a real serious look at that part of his game, and wants to excel there as well.

On Shawn Thornton playing defense at practice…Well after today I think we’ll scratch the defense and leave him on offense. He likes to call himself a former defensemen and now I know why they moved him to forward.

On Benoit Pouliot…Well I think it’s hard for me to really say “this is what he is.” But as I mentioned yesterday I think this is a guy that’s going through what [Chris] Kelly and [Rich] Peverley went through a little bit. He’s finding his way with the team and what I’ve liked about his game so far is he’s gotten a little better every game he’s played so that’s going to be the interesting part -- to see how he fares by the end of camp. I know that his skill level is there. I know that his skating is there. I know that his size is there. It’s about putting that package together -- certainly one of those guys that’s been up and down lineups on other teams whether he’s playing on the top line -- sometimes you have an injury. Peverley was a great example of that last year really helped us out in the playoffs. And I think Pouliot -- if he finds his game and plays a way we think he can -- he can also be that player.

On setting the rosters for the next two preseason games…Yeah we’ve made more or less the rosters for the two games, but with injuries and stuff like that, that could change.

On whether the groupings today had anything to do with the rosters for the games…No not at all. The second group today was the group that played yesterday – the only guy we moved up was [Lane] MacDermid to kind of balance out the lines. But tomorrow what we’re going to do here is we’ll have all the players on the ice at 10:30am. And then players that are playing will go off the ice after an hour or so and we’ll continue with the skeleton group.

On why Patrice Bergeron isn’t here…Yeah he’s gone to Bathurst. He’s going to meet us in Montreal. He’s a guy that I don’t plan on playing the next two games that’s why I played him the first two - and because he was going there. But he will be at practice with us on Monday morning in Montreal.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIENOn where he is in the decision making process about who will make the official Bruins roster...Well again, we're still going through some evaluations on a lot of players now. You want to see where your guys from last year are and at the same time those young guys that are obviously trying to leave us with an impression or at least fight for a spot on the hockey club. So we'll get a chance to do that tonight. A typical exhibition game's where you get a chance to evaluate players and where they're at, so that's both, whether it's veterans or young players.

On if Anthondy Camara returned to his juniors team...Yeah that's something I think you'll have to ask upper management. I think he's gone back to his junior team but they've taken care of that.

On how he feels about Camara's skill level...Well he's a - we know what his game is. He's a pretty tough individual that can play the game and we've always said that before, we like to find guys that if they're going to be guys that are tough hockey players and they want to play a part of that role they got to also know how to play hockey and that's why we drafted this guy. He's got some decent skills, his skating is actually pretty good so all he's got to do is- this year was just an experience year for him, to get a taste of what pro hockey's all about. He's going to come back next year an even better and more comfortable player.

On what affect Zdeno Chara's presence on the ice has on the younger players vying for a spot...Well I think Zee's getting to a stage in his career where some of those young players coming in have kind of - were very young when he first broke into the league and eventually some of those guys become idols to those players so I'm sure a lot of guys are looking up at him and seeing him as an idol growing up and now they're getting an opportunity to play next to him. And this is something I think, he leaves that impression. The way he conducts himself - everybody that's been around knows he's very professional about everything he does - conditioning, how he's perceived, how he reacts and in the public and everything else. So I think they're getting a great idea of what a good pro player has to be like and what a good pro player looks like so he's a great example in regards to that.

On if the 'black aces' such as Jamie Arniel, Jordan Caron, Matt Bartkowski have benefited from being 'black aces'...I think so. You know, there's a good amount of guys that came in here last year, worked hard, and were just waiting for the opportunity - if the opportunity was going to come- and just being around the hockey club, you know, in that kind of situation last year all the way to the Stanley Cup - it's probably something that they learned a lot from. They saw how the guys, again, how they reacted, how they conducted themselves and that's off the ice as well, you know, taking care of themselves, getting some good rest, eating properly and just seeing them throughout the games and finding out what it takes to play in this league. I think they benefited from that because I don't think there's one of those guys yet that's in this camp that's disappointed.

On how he feels about the high level of physicality at the scrimmage last night...I think it's a normal thing. I think it was kind of expected that nobody was going to run anybody through the boards, I don't think you want to be doing that to each other, but you know, we wanted to see some physicality and you want to see guys showing that they can play that kind of a game and some guys did. I think it picked up a little bit there, it was a little slow at the beginning, you could see guys letting up and then competition kind of kicked in a little bit more and it's a want-to-win hockey game and all of a sudden you saw some bigger hits and some better hits.

On if physicality is something he wants to see more of from Tyler Seguin...No, not really. I don't think we've asked Tyler to go in and start hitting everybody. Tyler just has to compete, you know, you don't try to make a player out of what he's not and Tyler's got several skills. We want to see him use those skills but all we want to see is him win those battles for the puck so that he can use his skills. When he's got the puck it's his advantage so it's about battling, not so much about how physical he's going to be but how much he's going to battle to get that puck.

On Joe Corvo's status...He had a tight groin so before anything happened, we pulled him out and we're giving him a little bit of rest. Krech [David Krejci] did the same thing today. We told him to get off the ice so it's just a typical training camp, I guess, things that happen, so we're pretty more cautious than we are being risky.

On who will play goalie in the exhibition game tonight...Yeah Tuukka's going to be in the nets tonight. He should play the whole sixty minutes baring you know, how he feels and everything else so we kind of told him we'd gauge it as we go along, but if he feels good I'll probably leave him in there for the whole sixty.

On what in particular he liked from last night's game...There's a lot of guys came up and so they were pretty good players, you know. Without a doubt we know Koko has played his best game since the beginning of camp and I think part of it to be honest with you, I think he's getting in better shape. I think he was in great shape when he showed up here and hopefully he learned 'I need to be in better shape' and now after two weeks he's starting to show his true colors so that was nice to see. I think a lot of guys, you know Miller's come in here as an invited player to start with, I think he's handling himself well. You know, our goaltending was good, our two goaltenders were good last night and stuff like that so there's a lot of good things that happened and you know, we see Dan Paille still has his speed, he's got to work on the hands a little bit and then he'll be ok. But no it was good. it was a good scrimmage, and good black and white game. You know, I thought it was intense enough for that kind of a game .

On how camp is without Mark Recchi there...Well I mean, it just means that guys have to step up, you know. When I say turn the [page] - you don't forget the guy - but you got to turn the page and move on here. It means the guys have to show their leadership qualities. I think a lot of guys last year grew from that, from the whole experience and now it's time for them to step up and be part of it. You don't replace a guy like Mark Recchi, but you try and as a group, compensate for it.

On the Recchi's having left an impression on Patrice Bergeron...Well, definitely. He's learned from Mark but at the same time, Patrice over the years has gotten better also on his own and felt himself more comfortable and I know when he speaks, people listen. You know, he's not a guy that speaks a lot but when he does speak he gets guys' attention so he's really been a good leader that way. Everybody knows he's the ultimate professional and everything he does is about doing the right thing to be a great player and that's off-ice, on-ice so Patrice is a great example for especially our young players to follow.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIENOn how intense he wants players to be during the Black and White scrimmage...Well I haven't given them any directions that way. I think the one thing you want to do is give them the opportunity to play in a real tight game situation. I think at the same time there's certain guys that we feel are on the bubble right now as far as whether they get to play some preseason games or not. They will get an opportunity to show us whether they're worthy of it or not. So there's some decisions that we'll end up making tonight, on whether we move forward with some guys or cut them loose. So those are some of the things that are going to happen and for me it's just seeing, like I said, those guys in a game tight situation. I'll be able to watch from up top and evaluate as well.

On if [Zdeno Chara] not being on the roster for tonight is of any concern...No, I think you saw a bunch of guys that aren't on the roster, so he's just part of that group. But he's fine. It's a contusion, that's where it's been diagnosed at. Nothing major and given tonight off, [it’s] certainly not going to hurt him.

On he will be coaching the Black and White scrimmage teams...Geoff Ward will have one bench and Doug Jarvis will have the other and Wardy will be with [Doug] Houda and Jarvy will be with Bruce Cassidy and Kevin Dean. I didn't want to pick teams, so made myself neutral.

On how he feels about the new boarding rules and if he thinks he has to teach his players how to cope with them...Well, I don't know if it's about teaching more than it's about guys using common sense. I think, and looking at the new rules or way they've been interpreted and stuff like that, you know, head shots is when you go after a head and directly after that target. But sometimes, you know, when you hit a guy, he'll put himself in a vulnerable position-you're hitting his body and you're hitting his head at the same time, well that's not targeting his head, it just happened to be that way. I think referees are going to end up having to use a lot more discretion and I'm sure there'll be discussions and reviews as you go around, but at least you're giving players some clear indication on what they are looking for, so right now it's a little bit of what I talked about last year when we saw those hits. I said you know, let's stop putting all the responsibility on the guy hitting. Let's also put some responsibility on the guy being hit. If you're just relying on the rule to protect you, you're wrong. Decisions are made in fractions of a second and sometimes that guy hitting doesn't have a chance to redeem himself or slow down so you have to protect yourself as well. So, same thing with boarding. There's times where at the last second the guy turns his back- it's pretty hard to slow down when he does that at the last second, but when a guy's in a vulnerable position you have time to maybe slack off a little bit and take some of that intensity off your hit and you show that, that's something that the referees will take into consideration. So I like the direction they're taking. Of course, there's nothing in this game that's ever going to be black and white. A lot of it is some discretion and I think that's where everybody has to take some responsibility when it comes to that.

On if and when the team will be getting a lecture or seeing the video about the new rules...Yeah they are. We showed the first group the video this morning and the second group will see it here in about fifteen, twenty minutes.

On if the head shot and boarding issue is included in the video...Yeah both. It's about the new rules and then how it's interpreted and there's an education being made, so we're giving everybody that opportunity to see the video.

On when the Bruins will be making decisions about who stays and who goes...Well pretty soon. There might be some decisions made tonight. It's something we'll look at. When I say on the bubble, you know, it doesn't necessarily mean you're - we're going to necessarily cut them, but it could also mean guys that - whether we think they're ready for some NHL pre-season games or not, we'll get an opportunity to see that tonight also you know. So those are all things - some guys are obviously going to be let go after tonight and we're going to trim down our roster. Some others may stick around, but may not get that opportunity at some games and a lot of it will depend on how some of those guys fare tonight so those are the kind of decisions that have to be made and we'll see how they do.

On how he feels about the talent he's seeing from his younger players such as Dougie Hamilton, Jared Knight, etc...Well, you know, I say the same thing every year. You mention one, you forget another one. You know. There's no doubt. All I'm going to answer to you on that is I like the job our scouts have done because the guys that they have brought in, I have yet to see somebody who wasn't worthy of coming to our camp or you know, really feel that he's over his head. At the same time, I'm not just talking about draft picks, I'm also talking about guys that they've invited to camp and stuff like that. They've done a really good job of bringing in guys that I think have fit in well. You know, kudos to them and I think you know, when it comes to regards to players, nobody here is disappointed in their first rounder this year. I think we all see the potential in [Dougie] Hamilton's game and stuff like that. Not only is he a quality player, he's a quality person as well. Anybody who's taken the time to talk to him has seen that he's a pretty grounded individual and those same guys, [Jared] Knight, [Ryan] Spooner, those kind of guys continue to impress you know. You can go with [Jordan] Caron who's having a great camp, even - I'm sure I'm forgetting some other guys too, but there's a lot of guys right now that are doing a pretty good job and giving us a good look at them. [Jamie] Arniel, you can tell he's got a year under his belt and he was with us - Colby Cohen has I think, has handled himself well also so far in this camp. Those are all players that really weren't here last year with us but are certainly showing some progress and even when you look at veterans. I talked about [Adam] McQuaid yesterday - McQuaid is one of those guys that keeps improving every year. Every time you see him at camp he looks better and better and yet he's been in our camp now for quite a few years now, so I like seeing those kinds of things. It means that there's no satisfaction in a lot of those players and there's improvements in those individuals which ultimately we need in order to stay where we are right now.

On how he feels about Spooner's performance and if anyone has talked to him about what to work on...Well, I didn't see him play that much last year so it's a - during a season in junior hockey - I'm not the one that really relates that message to him. It's more our player development people that have watched him, whether it's our scouts or whether it’s Don Sweeney and his group have taken care of that. I'm trying to see what's gotten better from one year to the other and obviously this guy's got more confidence this year than he did last year. Yet, last year we were pretty impressed with his first camp so he's starting to feel comfortable at this level, definitely has great hockey sense, finds - he seems to find the areas where to put the puck and he makes good decisions pretty well all over the ice. A young player will always - any young player that comes to the NHL, the one thing they find out quickly is how important the game without the puck is. Everybody has a good amount of talent and are good with the puck but the game without the puck at this level becomes more important than any other level and that's where they find out that they need as much work as they can and in a situation like Spooner, he's a centerman, down low giving good support you know and those are things that he's trying to understand more of- how important that part of the game is - not just for preventing goals, but also he's realizing that by coming down low, that when he does get the puck he's got a little bit more space to skate with it instead of being right into a defenseman's face and what sometimes appears to be defensive minded is actually what helps you offensively.

On if there's a chance that some of the younger players (Ryan Spooner, Maxime Sauve, Jared Knight, etc.) will get to play in the exhibition game...Yeah that's what we're going to see. I mean we're looking at those guys to hopefully play some games for us and I think most of those guys you've mentioned probably have a good chance of playing unless they really disappoint us tonight we'll say, 'Well listen you know, we've got to make some decisions.' But some of the guys- Spooner played last year and Knight, Sauve. Sauve's healthy.

On if the most likely candidates to go back early would be the younger players...Yeah probably younger kids, first year players and stuff like that, but some of those first year players have played well enough to maybe earn themselves a game here or there so that's kind of what we're looking at tonight when I talk about guys on the bubble as far as are they ready to play in an NHL pre-season game.

Monday, September 19, 2011BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIEN On Zdeno Chara’s leaving the ice…I was going to give it to you before the first question because I knew it was coming. But he just got shot on at the inside of the leg there so right now it’s a contusion. We’re just going to see how it goes as we go along here. This is training camp and if he needs an extra day then we’ll give an extra day. If he’s okay tomorrow then we’ll know so we’ll see. We’ll take it day-by-day, but really it’s just a shot on the inside of the leg.

On Tyler Seguin…Yeah he’s been very good. I’ve noticed him. You guys certainly have as well. He seems a lot stronger and he seems a lot more confident from what I’ve seen so far. His first three days his skill level has really shown because he’s competing with that confidence and I see a very – like I said a guy who’s got a year under his belt who’s coming in this year and wants to make a difference and we all know that he’s got it. So it’s up to him to show it. And in the first three days I think he’s done that so hopefully that carries through and he keeps going for the rest of the year.

On Tyler Seguin playing center…I think we can possibly see him in both areas. A centerman can play winger, but it’s much harder for a winger to be a centerman. He’s probably more comfortable up the middle. And I think down the road if he’s going to make that big of a difference you’ll have to put him there. It’s not a bad thing though for him if he does play the wing to play that, to learn the position as well. He’s capable with his speed to use that and right now where we are at center is pretty deep. So it depends on what kind of make up you want your team to be. Whether you want a bunch of high end centermens or you want some more reliable centermens on certain lines so we’ve got that luxury right now, I think we’ve got that option and just need to figure out how to go about it.

On what point last year he felt Tyler Seguin deserved more responsibilities… Last year [he] became a pretty reliable player. You always fear when you’re in the finals. Every goal means a lot and somehow you’ve got to make sure you have people that you can trust, know what to do when they haven’t got the puck. We knew that he was pretty good with the puck but the biggest part of the game here in the NHL is without the puck. You play [without the puck] a lot more than you play with it. So he became pretty reliable. I thought he did a good job at identifying on the back check and that kind of stuff. And he only had the puck and when ran out of room he would know just to kind of chip it in and make a good change or fore check. He became pretty reliable in that way and we’re able to use him a little bit more. I think his biggest struggle last year was probably consistency and he may be able to give us what we knew he could give us on a daily basis. And that’s just part of maturity. You’ve got an eighteen-year-old in your lineup who needs time to grow as a pro. And we just gave that opportunity last year to make sure we manage it the best we can. And now as I mentioned before it’s up to him to step up not only to show us that last year was a great learning season for him and that he’s ready to take on a lot more this year.

On Adam McQuaid…So far he’s had a good camp. We actually commented on him today that every year that he’s come to training camp he’s looked better and better and he’s a player that continues to improve, so can we expect more out of him? I think so. I think with confidence, with experience, he’s a guy that’s capable of becoming a better defenseman and as good as he is defensively, he might become a real reliable and maybe down the road a real good shut-down defenseman. Again, I mentioned that early he’s a guy that every year has improved when we’ve seen him at camp.

On Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly…I think for those two guys, they seem pretty comfortable. They know what we expect and that showed in the playoffs, too. They just played the game that our team was to play and they did it in good fashion. It’s their first camp with us, but I don’t think it’s a shock to see how we’re doing things or how we’re expected to play because nothing has really changed.

On Chris Clark…Well I’ve always had a lot of respect for him. I said earlier, a day or two ago, that I’ve coached against him since the American League when he was in St. John. He was with the Flames and he was a real good player then. He came into the NHL and he’s become a captain on the teams that he’s played with so his leadership quality, and what I liked about Chris was that you knew he was going to play hard every night and to play against a guy like that, that’s not an easy thing, but you learn to respect and like those kind of players. I’ve always admired that from him and that’s what he’s shown here again. He’s a pretty determined individual, very focused, mentally strong. He’s a fun guy to be around, I think he’s already very well respected by our players on our team because I think they’ve seen the same thing as I did when we played against him. I’m one of those guys that believes he’s going to push really hard and is going to make a real tough decision here. Certainly his experience, his leadership qualities are something that we can certainly look at. When you lose a guy like Recchi, sometimes you rely on guys in the dressing room to pick it up, but sometimes you also have the luxury of bringing somebody in who can help fill in that gap as well.

On seeing Chris Clark in games as opposed to practices…It does. I think the fact that you know what you’re going to get from him in practice and in games, because you’ve seen that, also he’s battled some injuries and he’s had a couple of tough years in regards to that so he’s very healthy right now and you want to see where he is with his game when it comes to that and I think those preseason games will certainly give us that indication.

On Dougie Hamilton…We did some one-on-one’s today with the backwards skatings and certainly he’s a strong backwards skater and has a good stick. I think he’s learning a lot about our game and the game at the pro-level. He’s one of those guys -- we talk about players that come back to camp and improve every year -- well he’s one of those players that will certainly do that because he’s capable of putting a little more muscle and a little bit more weight and it certainly won’t affect his game. He’s already a good smooth skater. He sees the ice well, moves the puck well. He has a bit of the Lindstrom quality of making easy passes and seeing the ice well and making the game look easy so he’s got some good qualities there that I think will bode well for him in the future.

On the Black and White game…I think some guys want to be evaluated and that’s a way of doing it, but at the same time I think having four straight days before your first exhibition game and having had a long season last year, it’s not a bad thing to not worry so much about drills and drills and give them a chance to play tomorrow, it should help get everybody get more comfortable with each other’s -- well -- and when we go to Ottawa for our first exhibition game you’ve got something under your belt; so it was something that was good in a lot of areas for us, I think the timing was good, and for those players to get that opportunity, it’s a good way also to support our farm team and the city of Providence who supports our farm team and bring our big club over there and give them that type of game. I think there’s a lot of things that go into it, whether it’s marketing, but also it blended in well with what we were looking for in our training camp also as coaches.

On Jared Knight and Ryan Spooner in training camp…Like I said, when a guy comes in for his second year, he’s had a taste of it the year before, he’s more confident, he’s not as intimidated, not so much in awe and I think those two guys are basically going through that stage where they’re not in awe as much as they were last year and they feel more comfortable. They’re not afraid to go into the corner and battle with veterans and showcase their strengths and stuff like that, so I see two guys that are obviously more comfortable, and again that’s just part of the process of growing, being bigger, stronger, more mature and more comfortable. Both of those guys, to me, are guys that I can’t see not playing in the NHL some day. They’ve got all the goods. It’s up to them to keep working at it.

On when the veteran players need to be ready…I think it’s near the end. We’ve got six preseason games, seven if you want to include the black and white, and I think usually the last two, maybe three games sometimes, you really start getting your team closer to what it should be and you’re looking for certain things to get better and you work on it in practice also and you want to see it show up in game situations. But like I said, we haven’t had a ton of changes, I think the guys that are going to slide in there will adapt well, but it’s about that balance that we’re talking about. Don’t push them too hard because we’ve had a short summer but then again don’t let them off the hook and make it easy either. We’re trying to find that balance and that balance has to come from us coaches and that balance also has to come from the players. They’ve got to understand that they’ve got to push themselves a little bit at times and make sure that their game is where it should be and respect the fact that we know what the summer was all about. I think our guys are going to be ready. I sense there’s a good attitude in there and we couldn’t ask for a better opportunity here, having a lot of home games, it’s up to us to establish our home presence early in the season and get off to a good start. Getting off to a good start usually gives you a great chance of making the playoffs. Don’t ever underestimate the start of a season because it’s been often the reason why teams have made the playoffs.

Sunday, September 18, 2011BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIEN On the intensity of practice…Yeah. It’s nice to see those guys pretty intense and obviously in the battle drills it shows more and even in the passing/shooting drills the guys are skating pretty well, but we’ve got to be careful here also. Fatigue can set in pretty quickly after you’ve had a tough physical testing one day and had a pretty good skate yesterday and another one today so we’ve got five games coming up, and if you include the black and white –or the gold and black, whatever you want to call it—we’ve got five games in seven nights, so we’ve got to make sure we manage that properly here. We’ve got lots of time to get ourselves in game shape and we just have to make sure we do things right.

On incorporating breakouts and other system-drills into practice…That’s a little bit of what we’ve been doing here. We’re adding a little bit every day and --the first day was a little bit about—we want our D to have a tighter gap this year, so we did a lot of drills with that. Also here with the back pressure and back-check, today was a little bit more on our transition game and the attack, so we’re kind of touching up a little bit and what we plan on doing the second half of every practice tomorrow, so we’ll do some scrimmaging and get the guys in some game situations here, so that they can go to Providence and at least have played together as a group and hopefully that will help us prepare for the preseason.

On the issue of tightening their gaps…Well it can be. Every year no matter what happens you always look for certain things to get a little bit better and that’s an area we identified. It wasn’t a major issue, but it’s an area that we can get better at. Sometimes our D is working up the ice a little harder, and they work up a little harder and are able to support the attack, if they work a little harder and get up the ice then they also have a tighter gap, and our D’s can get that confidence if our third man is high and they can back-check properly and at least give them some confidence to stand up a little bit more to the blue line.

On the benefits of having young players like Jordan Caron who have improved…Absolutely. I think they really liked him once he got settled into Providence and felt comfortable with his team. I was told he was a really good player for them and he had some decent success with that hockey club. What I’ve seen so far in training camp, again he’s shown signs of a guy who’s gotten better, he looks stronger even more so than last year, more confident that he’s using his size and his strength to his advantage. He’s shooting the puck well, so I’ve seen a lot of good things that have come out of him probably playing more in Providence last year so it’ll make for an interesting battle. I’m really kind of curious how, as we get later into camp, I have a feeling there’s going to be some guys pushing other guys to either keep their job or take it from them and I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened.

On Caron’s experience last year in Providence…Well he was one of those guys that you could send down and we really felt that he would benefit a lot more in Providence from getting more ice time than he would of here. Here it would have been a question of whether he was in or out of the line-up and when you have that benefit, which we didn’t have with Tyler Seguin for example, it was either stay here or go back to Junior, and then if you send him down you couldn’t bring him back. This is a benefit you have with certain age players, so we were able to do that with him and again I thought it was the right decision that we made because early on he was having a decent amount of ice time, as we moved forward and his game dropped a little bit, he was getting less and less and then eventually kind of pushed himself out of the line-up. A player of that nature who’s got a lot of potential needs to play and if he’s not quite ready I just think that it’s sometimes we hear the American League as a negative thing, but it often become a positive thing and David Krejci has been a great player since he came back from that time we sent him down for a month and a half, he really battled consistency and we sent him down and he knew why and he is understood why. He made sure he corrected it there and he came back and never allowed it to happen again, so that American League really helped him to become a better player.

On Zach Hamill and his confidence after coming to camp a few times now…I’ve seen more confidence in Zach. Zach has struggled a little bit with that in the past but right now he’s shown that after the amount of years he’s been at our camp that it’s a time for him to show that he’s benefitted from it and I find him playing a lot more confidence. And he’s one of those guys that you’ll probably see more of what he can do in a game situation than in practice because he’s a smart player smart individual and he can make some real nice plays so we’ll et a chance to see that from him.

On the difference in the level of focus from this point last year…I think they recognize what they’ve accomplished and what’s expected of them. I think they know that so from what I see, some guys who were with us last year through the finals they’ve come back here although they’ve had a short summer they seem pretty intent on making sure they’re ready. I see the leadership quality of our guys and there’s no “Hey we’re Stanley Cup champions here we can relax a little bit.” And they’re making sure they’re spreading that message around right now, so I think the one thing you’re going to see this year is, after winning the Stanley Cup, the guys who are determined to win another one, it’ll show. The guys who get satisfied and say, “Well jeez that was hard I don’t know if I want to do that again.” They’ll be sticking out of the group and you’ll be able to weed those guys out. I certainly hope we have none I don’t anticipate we have any. If that was the case those guys would certainly stand out from the other guys.

On David Krejci... Well I think that’s where he gained a lot of that confidence. He realized he can do it in the playoffs he scored almost as many in the playoffs than as he did during the regular season and because he decided to shoot more and went more to the net there was a little bit more determination in that area and I think he realized that he’s capable of doing that. Again I see a guy probably improving with those numbers this year especially if he understands it and focuses on it. You’re going to see him shoot a little more and we need that from David because there was times last year where he’s had some great scoring areas and he chose to pass instead. And we had that issue with Savvy [Marc Savard] at one point, he always looked to pass before shooting. Those guys know that they do that but breaking them out in habit is tougher than realizing it.

On Chris Clark…Even in St John American League he was there. To me, whenever we played against him, I always found him to be a hard player to play against. You talked about a guy that comes to play hard every night. He’s certainly one of those players and in a lot of ways he reminds me of a Bergeron who comes to the rink and is all business. Great guy, obviously well respected from his teammates, he’s been a captain in different places he’s been. And just from getting to know him a little more you can see why. That’s why he reminds me of Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] a little bit. A guy you can have fun with who’s a good teammate, enjoys coming to the rink but when he’s on the ice it’s all about business and I’m very interested in seeing what he’s going to be able to show us in these preseason games and then see if he can’t earn himself a spot here. When you look back at his career I don’t think anybody is going to argue the fact that he’s got some Bruin qualities in him. And he might be a good fit for us.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD PATRICE BERGERONOn if he thinks everyone is in the right frame of mind...Yeah, I think so. I mean, we were all looking forward to getting started and now that it's here, we're all looking forward to getting better each and every day so it's been good so far.

On where he thinks his offensive game will be with old chemistry with Brad [Marchand] and with a new player at his right side...Yeah, I mean obviously with Marchy when we're going play together we're going establish chemistry our way, we're gonna find a way to not take too much time to establish it and then from there have line chemistry I guess with our - whoever's going be on the right side with us. But looking forward for whoever's going be there and I think on our side it's always to get better and I think it's the same thing again this year and to help the team as much as we can.

On if he knew or talked to Benoit Pouliot prior to his joining the team for camp...Yeah, just a little bit from having the same agents we've talked once or twice and you know, before camp started I kind of reached out to him to make sure he was I guess getting ready with finding a place and all that and we're on the same line right now so we've got to establish some chemistry out there and it's been a lot better today I thought.

On if he ever considered Pouliot's talent while playing against him...Yeah, it's - he's got all the talent in the world and he's got some great size and great speed, so he's got all the tools and you know, I'm sure he's looking forward for this year, so he looks very motivated right now.

On if he thinks the move is the right situation for Pouliot...Yeah, it's happened to a bunch of guys, sometimes it's you know, a change of scenery helps a lot so hopefully it happens on Benny's case

On what he said to help out Sid Crosby...Yeah I had some words with him. Only via text message though not on the phone, but we exchanged a couple - a lot - well not that many, you know, once in a while I was reaching out to him and just letting him know what I've been through I guess and that patience and staying positive is, it sounds kind of cliche, but that's exactly what it is. And just to stay with it then he's going to be, you know he's going to find a way to get back.

On what it's like for him and others to see one of the best players in the league [Crosby] go through what he's going through...Yeah, you know you want just for - well, I know him personally so I'll just say for his health first and foremost for my side that I want him to be back but just for league's perspective, I mean obviously you want your best player to be in a game and to help with fans and everything so obviously we're missing Sid and hopefully he is going be back.

On if he's received good signs from Crosby that he might be back...Yeah, it's you know, from what I hear and what I'm getting, it seems positive so I'm just trying to send some text messages and saying you know I'm happy, glad you're hear, and that there's progress going on and that's all that matters when you have a concussion, as long as it goes I guess forward, and go from there. But on my side, you know, having gone through it I just want him to be healthy and back 100 % before even Sidney Crosby hockey player, it's more about him and then go from there.

On if Crosby leaned on him knowing Bergeron has been there and experienced what he himself is now experiencing...You know, I don't know, I don't want to say that he leaned on me, obviously he's got his entourage, he's got his doctors and everything in Pittsburg and they seem to be taking good care of him. I'm just trying to be there and telling him if he needs anything, I'll be there and i guess it sounds cliche but patience and staying positive is two big words and that can make it - so hopefully I told him, just stay with it and he's gonna get through it, it's just a matter of time and just take it a day at a time, don't look too far ahead.

On how he's enjoying getting back into things...Yeah it's awesome, you know obviously we've been looking forward to that for the past couple weeks now and and now its here we're really happy , we were looking forward to it and the last two practices have been pretty good so we're very happy with it, pleased with it and just go from there

On how he feels about the intensity and energy level at the first couple of practices...Yeah, very good. Seems like all the guys are in the right frame of mind and that's all that matters right now.

On how much he's talked with the guys about repeating as cup champs and what to expect in the season following a championship run and victory...Yeah I mean, we haven't talked that much about it. It's only been two days but we've had a little small talk about it just saying you know we can't be satisfied with what happened last year, you know we gotta be motivated, it's gotta be motivation for us instead of kind of sit back and relaxing for one year, you know, it can't happen. I mean obviously a few, like I said to all the guys you know you've got to, you need to be tasting one to get one more so that's the kind of thing, that's how it happens, that's how it goes and have those memories of that celebration after the Game 7, I still have goose-bumps about it. So i want to do that again, but obviously it starts right now. You can't think about Game 7 Stanley Cup Final again. You've got to start all over again and you know the other 29 teams are gonna be ready for us when we play them so that's gonna be a challenge for us.

On if it's weird to be there without Recchi...Yeah, obviously we're gonna miss it. But we kept in touch though, he seems to be doing well, but yeah we're gonna miss him and it is weird but I guess we've learned a lot from him and we're a better person now because of it.

On if he and the other young players will embrace the chance to fill the void Recchi's absence has created and be more vocal leaders...Yeah, well I think we have to do it you know we have to all find ways to be more vocal and grab some of that void that Rex left of that leadership role so we've just gotta all step up and find a way to do it and it's not about not being ourself, you gotta make sure you stay yourself and it comes out the right way and you can't just force it. That's the biggest thing and make sure the message goes out.

BOSTON BRUINS DEFENSEMAN JOHNNY BOYCHUKOn the beginning of camp…Everything’s been going good. Fitness testing wasn’t fun, but it was necessary and everybody did well in that and yesterday was a good skate and today was another good one. It was nice to actually get back into the swing of things and actually getting to play the body a little bit, not too much out there. It’s nice to just get back on the [flow] of things and be around the guys again.

On the energy of camp…It’s not like we haven’t missed a beat, because we have, we’ve been off that long, it’s just nice to get the rest though, but the speed out there is very fast paced and you don’t expect anything else.

On talking to people who have won the Cup…To be honest I haven’t really talked to anybody, because I don’t know anybody that has really won a Cup or even repeated a Cup so I haven’t really talked to anybody about that. But we know it’s probably one of the hardest things to do in sports and we just want to make sure we’re ready to go and we’ve had our proper rest and we just want to make sure to keep the spirits high and the tempo high as well.

On being the defending champs…Definitely there’s going to be a target on our back because we are the defending champs and everybody wants to be the champs and to be the champs you have to beat the champs. Obviously it’s going to be a hard season, especially when everybody that comes into our building, or when we go into their building, know that it’s going to be a tough game and we expect that every night.

On his goals for the season…I think just play more consistent. Being more physical and making sure that my shots get through at least 80% of the time and if I do that, those are my goals and if I achieve those then that means I’ll do better for points and to help the team win, if I’m more physical and get my shots through.

On how he can be more consistent…Concentrate more and more. Being more mentally focused, before the games, after the games, during the week, just focusing I guess.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD CHRIS CLARKOn how he feels coming into camp…I’m feeling pretty good coming into camp which is the first camp in the last couple of years where I wasn’t rehabbing during the summer. It was a full summer of really getting ready for camp and doing everything necessary to be here. So I feel pretty good coming in.

On his reputation as a tough player to play against…This is always a fun team to play against because [they play] the way I like to play. The game gets rough and guys pushing around and all that stuff. And to be a part of that now and hopefully during the season, I think it’s going to be a good fit hopefully.

On his role in the team…I think to come out and obviously play the way I can play and not go outside of that. Be consistent, be a good team guy and leader and stuff like that and I think hopefully in the end it’ll show that I should be here.

On growing up a New Englander and being a Hartford Whalers fan…Growing up, South Windsor was only ten minutes outside of Hartford so all the newspapers and the media and the news were all about the Whalers and stuff. Once they moved out, I gravitated a little toward the Bruins, but I [still have] “Brass Bonanza” at the back of my head sometimes.

On being a New Englander playing for a New England team…That would be awesome. Yesterday, I put the jersey on for the first time for the pictures and the media stuff so that was pretty special. Even though I wasn’t a diehard Bruins fan growing up it was all over the place, they always had great teams so they were someone that I definitely did follow as well.

On Craig Janney, who grew up in nearby Enfield, CT not far from Clark…I can probably still grab a poster from my child bedroom that’s a Craig Janney poster. So it’s in there somewhere and I should bring it in someday.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD CHRIS KELLYOn how he feels at this point of training camp...I feel good, you know excited to get going. It's good that for the most part we have everyone back and we're familiar with one another and I thought that the first two days on ice have been good.

On bouncing back the following season after going to the Final with Ottawa...I think we had a new coach the following year, Bryan Murray became the GM and John Paddock became the head coach - he was the assistant. So he wanted us to come in, you know, in the best shape possible and really get off to a great start and we did that. I think we went to a twenty-three and two or twenty-three and three and won all our pre-season games, but that year we barely snuck into the playoffs. I think it came down to the, you know, the last game or the second last game for us to make it and ended up getting swept four straight. I think that was a good lesson to learn that it is a long season , you don't want to peak too soon. Eighty-two games are in place for a reason, so I think the coaching staff and management and players, we know that and there's not going to be any easy nights for us. So we want to stay focused from the first game right to the last one.

On if Stanley Cup hangover could affect the team later in the season as fatigue sets in...Yeah for sure. I think everyone's going to talk about the Stanley Cup hangover and that comes with the territory, that's what happens when you win. I'm sure Chicago went through it all last year, but I think it's a mind-set that we're all aware of and something that you need to focus on and realize that you need to come to the rink each and every day and work that much harder because the rest of the teams are going to play you hard. You're a measuring stick to the rest of the league right now.

On if it is very competitive out on the ice...Yeah, camps are always competitive. You’ve got young guys trying to make a name for themselves and older guys trying to keep their jobs. It's fun, that's what hockey's all about -- that compete level, that battle level. And everyone has it or they wouldn't be here at this point in their career.

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD DAVID KREJCIOn starting to play again…Yeah. It feels good. A short summer, but I’m happy it’s starting again. You kind of miss it. Once you get your rest, you want to come back at it. I’m finally here, so I’m excited to start it.

On things being different coming into this season as a champion…They shouldn’t be any different. You want to go to training camp, have a strong camp, feel good about yourself before you go into the season and try to have a good start to the season and go from there.

On the Bruins being defending Stanley Cup Champions this year…Yeah we’re going to have to be better than we were last year. Every single team is going to show up big and they want to show everybody they can play with the Stanley Cup Champions and we know that, so we’ve got to be ready for that and like I said, even better than we were last year.

On this year’s team compared to last year’s team…I think we had a really good team last year and I think it’s almost the same team as last year. I think a couple of new faces, but it’s pretty much the same team, but we have a really young team and the key players are really young. So everybody’s a year older and they’ve got more experience, so hopefully we’re going to have the same year as we did last year.

On what he wants to improve on this year…If you’re satisfied with your play, it isn’t good enough. You’ve always got to be better and I know I can be better in every single situation. Get my speed, get stronger, and especially score more goals this year than I did last year in the regular season. That’s where I’m going to focus and it all starts with a strong camp and a good start to the season.

On shooting more pucks…I try to bury my chances. I’m going to make sure I’m going to put it in the back of the net. I don’t want to waste the chances I’m going to have this year. I want to bury down and score on as many chances as I’ll have.

On his confidence, stemming from last year’s playoff performance…It was only the second practice today, but I’ll see what happens. I’m going to try to carry the momentum of what I had in the playoffs and I’ll try to score some goals. I’m going to shoot a lot. I’m not going to pass up on any shots this year. It’s easy to say, but I’ve got to show it on the ice so we’ve just got to wait and see.

On being an All-Star…No. I don’t care about that. I’m who I am and whatever happens happens. I’m going to be helpful for this team and carry this team to the playoffs and in the playoffs you never know what’s going to happen. The All-Star Game is what it is. It’s nice to be there, but it’s also nice to have a break and get away from hockey for a little bit, so we’ll see what happens.

On what he did well in the playoffs…Well shooting the puck more and it was going in. I don’t know what else to say.

On his knee last year…No. You missed yesterday didn’t you? Yeah, I didn’t have any problems last year. It’s just a little tweak. You know nothing major injuries. It didn’t bother me in games or practices so I wore a little pad there which prevents more of the injury to happen, and it didn’t bother me at all.

On any statistical goals he has set…I never set up any goals like that. I just try to go out there and do the best I can. I know that’s what they say, but that’s all you can do. Obviously you want your numbers to be good, you’ve just got to work hard and have at it every night, that’s all you can do.

On having both goaltenders ready to play this season…Yeah. I mean every year is a new opportunity right? Having me and Timmy here, we both know that we can play and I think it helps our team to achieve our goals, and we try to give a chance to win every night and that’s what we want to do. But game-wise, I don’t set any goals. Hopefully we can both play at a good level in a lot of games.

On how he feels getting back onto the ice…Game-wise, yeah. I haven’t played in a game since last April or so. That might be a little odd at first, but in the practices I don’t feel any different. It feels good out there.

On specific things to work on…No. Everything. You just try to get used to the speed and the traffic and the jams -- people jam the net -- so that’s pretty much the only focus you’ve got.

On getting games in before the season…It doesn’t matter. Obviously you want to have a good feeling of yourself going into the season. Past years, I played few games, but I’ll play one, I’ll play two, I’ll play six; it doesn’t matter.

On being number one goalie by April…By April? I don’t set any goals.

On his experience last year…Hopefully it helped me in the future, going through that process. I think it’s good for everybody at some point of their career to go through that stuff, that you’re not the guy, you’re not playing that much, and kind of puts things into perspective there, but it was a great experience. But it’s definitely something you don’t want to get used to.

On Coach Julien saying he will get more games this year…Obviously that’s a goal for you every year. You want to play a lot, but I still feel fairly young and it’s a good thing that you get games. You don’t want to get stuck on the bench and obviously everybody realizes that, but it’s up to me, too. I’ve got to perform and I’ve got to be good enough to earn that playing time. It’s not a guarantee, but obviously I would like to play more, but as I said, it’s up to me, too.

Saturday, September 17, 2011CLAUDE JULIEN PRESS CONFERENCEBOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIEN On Chara showing up to camp after losing close friend Pavol Demitra…Yeah. I think I would have been certainly willing to give him that time, but he really wanted to go on the ice today for a bunch of reasons; new equipment. He takes his job as a leader pretty seriously and he got in late last night. He felt it would be good for him to get a good little work-out and all those reasons, but he did look tired and he felt tired and he told me he did. But just the fact that he came out, I think it was nice to see him out there and certainly he showed a great example today of a guy who’s dedicated through everything he’s been through in the last week or so. He lost a pretty good friend that he was very close to and I think it emotionally took a toll on him this past week. This is training camp, probably a real good time to give him a little bit of space here and you give him an opportunity to work his way back into feeling good and feeling ready to go.

On his reaction to the Bruins physical fitness/conditioning…There’s no overall. I think our group is in pretty good shape. There’s guys that may not have been at the top, but this is something that for a young guy fighting for a spot, probably not acceptable; for a guy who’s had a short summer, as long as it’s within range of being able to get in shape before the season starts and just to kind of tweak, we can deal with that. As I mentioned before, it was a short and busy summer. Some guys may have taken more rest than others because some guys are used to working out no matter what and some guys don’t mind taking that extra rest, and it will pay off probably in the long run as long as they don’t neglect the fact that they’ve got to work hard here in the next few weeks.

On [Brad] Marchand…Well I think a lot of it will depend on Brad and how he handles it. What we’ve got to remember from a coach’s point of view is he’s had one full season in the NHL and has done extremely well. We obviously are anticipating that he’ll continue to do well and that’s why we extended him for a couple of years and that’s why he got the kind of money he got. But at the same time I think he needs to show that and he needs to come and play as hard and as desperate as he did last year. Last year was one of those years where he started off on the fourth line and did well and we moved him up and continued to do well and for him the whole season was about proving that he belonged and that he could have an impact. You hope that players in that situation continue to take that way and don’t get comfortable. Getting comfortable for him, or for anybody, is certainly a dangerous thing. He’s an agitator, always has been an agitator, I don’t think that part of his game will go away, but I think he’ll get smarter at how he agitates and when he agitates, but it’s part of his make-up that we like and we know it’s helped our team in a lot of situations, but when it’s gotten out of control it’s also hurt us at times.

On Marchand being an example for the younger players...I think we’ve got a lot of those examples. Tyler’s got an opportunity to show that this year as well and [Milan] Lucic did. Luch started off the fourth line his first year and worked his way up and sometimes we’ve got an injury, sometimes it’s because of merit, but a lot guys, when you look at David Krejci, his first full year here we ended up sending him back down for a month, month and a half I think in the minors so he could find his game again. And it’s a good example of the fact that this organization is willing to give guys an opportunity to go, but also when the merit is there, they do get their chance. We’re not an organization that will say, “Well, he’s good, but we’ve got this guy here”. If he deserves it, we’ll make room for him and we’ve got a lot of examples here so that kind of gives our young guys, or guys here that are trying to earn a spot on the team, some confidence because it’s happened before.

On returning trade deadline veterans like Chris Kelly and them fitting in with the team…You have to hope they’re used to our team by now, even if they came at the trade deadline. I think the experience they went though is probably the most they would get out of a team so I think they feel pretty comfortable. For me as a coach it’ll be nice to have them as you mentioned from the start because we know the kind of roles they played for us and Chris was a really reliable two-way centermen, faceoffs and even in our own end also he and [Rich] Peverly were great guys to put late in the game when we’re trying to protect the goal and you want to put pressure up the ice and not let the other team come out their own end there. They were very good and very smart at it with Bergeron there with them, so they played some important roles in parts of the game whether it’s penalty kill power play with the other, whatever, they did a great job and I think that kind of experience certainly helped our club win the Stanley Cup. Now you’ve got them for the whole season that’s certainly going to give our team some strong depth down the lineup.

On Jordan Caron as a guy fighting for a forward spot…Well watching him today, he’s certainly is a guy that caught my attention a little bit because he’s got good size. He seemed to be skating well and that’s what he did last year as well. He was skating well and then had good jump and hopefully with a year of experience at the pro level now he’s able to maintain that jump. And I guess he’s a pretty smart player. He’s got good hockey sense and you see his reads are pretty good. He’s one of those guys battling for a job and we’re certainly going to keep a close eye on him

On Benoit Pouliot and helping him transition by putting him with guys like Patrice Bergeron…Maybe a little bit. This is a guy that I mentioned the other day that we see potential that hasn’t risen to the top yet. I think it’s our opportunity or our chance here to make that happen. And we just kind of feel that with the environment of our hockey club and the chemistry and the accountability that’s in that dressing room, we’ll be able to do that with him. And he’s excited to be here. We know that if he shows the potential that everybody knows he has he’s going to be a good hockey player.

On monitoring Tim Thomas and using Tuukka Rask to mitigate fatigue…I think it’s pretty obvious that Tuukka has to take a bit of a bigger bite this year for that reason and that’s not a secret and don’t plan on making that a secret. Tim is a great goaltender, but Tim is a goaltender that understands too that he can’t play 70 plus games in the season, the regular season. He’s had a long playoffs and I think Tim is going to be just as happy as we are to have Tuukka here and paying some of his best hockey. I liked his practice today, I thought Tuukka looked sharp and he came in great shape so hopefully he’s ready to take on that load an we’ll certainly make sure that we share it. And in sharing that load you just want to make sure you keep you’re goaltenders as sharp as you can and Tim had such an outstanding year last year. We’d love to see him duplicate it, but he might be able to duplicate with some help from Tuukka by keeping him as fresh as we can.

On Rask’s role…We were clear right form the start. I don’t know if they were believing what we were saying, but we talked about two number one goaltenders in our mind. It was an advantage for us to have that situation and eventually the way Timmy played, he took over that number one spot and rightfully, so but it didn’t stop us from believing that when we put Tuukka in that he would allow us to win some hockey games. And hopefully people remember when we went out west last year Tuukka had a bulk of the starts and did a really job at winning. I think he won four in a row and that allowed Timmy to get some rest. And for a goaltender to get some rest it’s always nice to know that you can sit on the bench get a night off and the goalie in your spot is going to do the job. There’s nothing worse than sitting on the bench and looking at a goaltender that just can’t do it and you feel the need that you want to go in there, but yet you should be getting some rest so it was a comforting situation for all of us including the goaltenders. And that’s what we plan on hopefully seeing happen this year is that those two continue to support each other and give us some wins.

On Nathan Horton’s health…Horts? He looked fine. He’s been fine for a while. His concussion situation was pretty well cleared a few weeks or two, three weeks after the Cup was won and he’s feeling great. I think to my knowledge that was his first concussion ever so he was able to recover from that quick and everybody deals with it differently but he feels good and he’s had no symptoms. So again he’s in pretty good shape and he’s a guy that always keeps himself in good shape and he looked good today. I mean there’s a lot of kinks that have to come out the first couple of days of training camp and we know that so we allow the players to go out there and take care of those kinks.

On players that stood out today…There was a lot of guys. You kind of just keep your eye a little bit on everybody. One day a certain guy stands out to you the next day you’re watching somebody else, so I just watch a lot of players and it’s always the same thing when young players like Spooner has such good hockey sense you want to see him and how he handles this level here and he’s got great speed and great vision and makes good plays. Dougie Hamilton with Zdeno [Chara] seeing him get some confidence and he’s still a young player. But some speed, [Kyle] MacKinnon has some speed. And this little thing doesn’t mean you’re going to make the team, but there’s certain things about certain players that stand out and you like to see. And I know I’m forgetting some of the guys, because we’ve had fifty players out there so I’m going to walk away here and say I forgot about him and him and him, but overall I think it was a good first day I thought our guys worked hard they had the right attitude, they were focused so it wasn’t sloppy. The ice was a little bit chippy in that second group and made it a little harder for them, but they have a chance to redeem themselves because they are the first group on tomorrow. They’ll get the nice ice. So, overall, I think it was a good first day and we’re pleased with it.

Friday, September 16, 2011CLAUDE JULIEN PRESS CONFERENCEBOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIENOn how it feels to be back…It feels good actually -- kind of ready to get going again. The summer’s been a great summer, been a lot of fun but for us it’s time to turn the page and get back to work. Our players seem to be in the like frame of mind in regards to that, and that’s what we like to see. And we just got to go out there and prove that we’re ready to go and understanding that there’s going to be challenges along the way. I mean Stanley Cup champions means teams playing at their best against you every night, so we understand that part of it and hopefully we’re going to get ourselves ready and respond properly.

On how players are looking after testing… I don’t have all the final details about the testing yet, but according to what I’ve heard from John Whitesides everybody was pretty well in good shape. There’s always areas where certain players are going to have to pick up a little bit, but as far as our veterans are concerned when you’ve only got a couple of months off, I don’t think they had the time to get out of shape too much and for the most part I think our guys did a great job at taking some time off to rest and making sure they came back to camp in pretty good shape because they look good right now.

On the team having the potential to improve…I think so. I would probably say that not just the players that were on this team, but we had some players we called “the black aces” last year where they saw a lot of things happening and they were with us for the whole playoffs and I think they’ve got a lot of opportunity to grow and being around. But when you look at the players that we had, whether it’s Tyler [Seguin] now that he’s got a year under his belt and Steven Kampfer was one of those guys and [Adam] McQuaid really did take a big step from the year before and we’re hoping that’s going to continue as far as our group is concerned.

On the young players still establishing themselves and growing…I think the one thing that is for sure is that we’ve still got a young team. When you look at players on our top two lines generally are all young. And it got a lot younger with Marc Recchi retiring, but somebody else is going to step in there and replace and it’s probably going to be a young player as well. So no doubt there’s room to grow still and a lot of it will be experience and last year with the experience from the playoffs is certainly serve us well this year, if they want it to serve us well.

On what’s expected of Tyler Seguin this year…Just the experience from last year is going to be a big help to Tyler and I think in this case now last year was a lot of “what could we do for him” and we certainly want to give him that opportunity to grow with our team and at the pro level and we helped him through that with different decisions that we made along the way. I think right now more of it will be in his court as far as what he learned last year and what he’s willing to really come out here this year with a lot of confidence and with that experience combined. We know his skill level. If he’s able to showcase that, and on a more consistent basis, he’s going to have a bigger impact on our hockey club. We expect him to.

On the new guys fitting in…We expect him to fit in and we talk about training camp here, [it’s] still a matter of opportunity to find their spot within the team. We know what we expect out of them and now it’s their chance to show in those areas we feel they can fill so [Joe] Corvo’s been one of those guys that’s been around for quite a while and I think with experience he’s really managed his game well as far as excelling in the areas of strength that he has and really working on the other areas that maybe weren’t his biggest strength and he’s turned out to be a pretty stable defensemen capable of competing hard and battling in our end. And certainly, offensively, we think he’ll move the puck well and his shot and that’s what we want to see on our power play.

On Tuukka Rask’s readiness after surgery…Right now, he’s ready to go and whether he has a little bit of stiffness, which is a normal thing for anybody coming off surgery we’ll be able to tell more as we grind through camp here, but right now there’s no limitations for Tuukka and we’re going to go about as if he’s 100-percent.

On Nathan Horton’s health…As we speak right now everything seems as if it’s a go and no red flags yet.

On Marc Savard’s status…I can’t really answer that because I don’t really know all the details about that. That would be more between Peter and our medical staff. When a player is out for a long term kind of injury, I’m basically kind of pushed out of that until it gets closer to. It’ll be hard for me to answer that precisely.

On expecting to see Savard around the rink…Not until somebody tells me. He was a part of our team last year and his injury was a big blow to him and to the team, but we made sure we made him a part of our Stanley Cup celebration we hope to see him down the road. And again, he was a part of our hockey club and we haven’t forgotten him.

On whether team chemistry is still a big topic since the team established it last season…Not really, because you’ve got to start all over again. And sure, we’ve got an advantage having all those players back again, but when you bring two, three, maybe four players into your lineup it still a good portion of your team that has to adapt, because if two of them don’t fit in, just that alone can really disrupt the chemistry on your team so I’m certainly not going to ignore that part of it. I think that part of it was probably one of the major reasons why were able to accomplish what we did because we just played for each other so hard and so well and just the respect for each other that we’re not only able to play for each other, but guys in there were able to push each other and that’s a part that I felt was always important when you look at teams that have had success. Like I said, that’s not going to be ignored.

On the importance of keeping in check…I think it goes for more than just those guys keeping in check. I really feel that we’ve got some real strong leaders in that dressing room that are common sense guys, we’ve got guys that a coach like [me] really appreciates and don’t get too high and too over confident and remain humble and understand that the start of this season is a whole new season and what we accomplished last year doesn’t really matter this year. It’s going to be starting from scratch and building our team up and going through the highs and lows of the season and battle through it and work your way into a playoff spot and being ready to battle for it. So, there’s a lot of things that need to happen over the course of the season for us to have success again. As we mentioned earlier the famous Stanley Cup hangover that everybody talks about, I don’t think why we shouldn’t be different than everybody else. Where we’ve got to be better at is how we’re going to handle it. Hopefully with the example that we’ve had, we’ve got to understand that obviously it is a real thing and that we need to be ready this year more than even last year. We need to up our game just like every team is going to up theirs against us.

On Benoit Pouliot’s role on the team…I think again this is his second or third chance I think it’s an opportunity for him to fit into our hockey club. But when we made that decision we really felt that he had a lot of things going for him that blended well with our hockey club. He’s skill level is a high skill level his size is a guy with good size obviously and he put on some weight even this year. We felt that even last year in Montréal he was one of the guys that was most physical on their hockey club. I think he was third on the team in hits. So having the surround of the rest of our team we feel he’s going to be a good fit. We said that about Nathan Horton last year when people questioned the part of his game was consistent. I think consistency has been said about Pouliot. And Nathan worked his way through with our hockey club. We really feel Pouliot will do the same. And with the right surroundings I think he’s got a great attitude and he’s a player that’s been liked everywhere he’s gone so we just feel like he’s going to be a good fit. Now if that’s going to happen is going to be up to him to prove that he fit in well and he’s going to have training camp to prove that to us.

On Pouliot coming from a rival team and it having an affect on him…There’s no doubt it’s a little bit more special. I mean when you’re in a close rivalry like that when you go back and play your old team, as you can ask Michael Ryder, it was a strange feeling but at the same time you know what’s going to be happening. It’s not like you’re going into something and telling yourself I didn’t realize how big a rivalry this was. He understands it and I have a feeling he’s probably going to be a little more comfortable on our side. We hope so anyways.

On what Tim Thomas can improve on…I think Tim’s biggest challenge will be to duplicate what he did last season. You know if he ever comes close to doing that we know we’re going to have a good goaltender because his season. Last year was outstanding and he’s one of those players that like everybody else has to be willing to up his game. And “up his game” doesn’t necessarily mean be better, but just to be as consistent as he was last year and to me it means he’s going to have to up his game and Timmy’s capable of doing what his mind sets to it.

On how training camp has changed throughout the years…If guys aren’t in shape they really standout when it comes to looking at the whole group. It’s one of those games where so much has changed. I don’t think they were making the kind of money back in the older days as they are today. A lot of those guys had to work throughout the summers and there was a reason why they didn’t always come in great shape or at least cardio-wise maybe gained some weight along the way. But the game’s changed guys are obviously rewarded well enough and rewarded handsomely that part of their job is to make sure they stay in shape in the summer time and most of the guys do it really well. And we’ve been fortunate enough to have our guys here buy into that well and we haven’t had very many disappointments through the course I’ve been here and that just shows the quality of the people we have in our organization and on our team

On how the groupings were put together…That’s a good question. The roster that we made a lot of it was that I tried to mix veterans with younger players. What that allows is the younger players to at least showcase his talent instead of putting three young guys against three veterans it’s a little unfair you want to give those players an opportunity to showcase what they’re capable of doing and they can probably do that if they’re surrounded with guys that are a little more experienced. So what we try to do is use that and this year you saw [Dougie] Hamilton with [Zdeno] Chara and I think he’s a guy with great potential being a first round pick and he can benefit playing with Zdeno and you saw other guys too we’ve paired up with some that we feel guys that can be on each side of them whether it’s a centermen or winger that’ll either dish them the puck or that will be able to dish the puck offensively that will really be able to see their skill level at the NHL level. And some of the guys were good passers we sometimes put those guys with guys that are good shooters, so they can pass the puck to those guys. The other part of the team was to try to balance them out the best we could. As you know we have a black and white game in Providence, and I want to try to balance the teams out the best way we could and at least make that an interesting game when it comes time to that. So we try to do both those things in order to make it an interesting and good camp.

Wednesday, September 14, 2011 BOSTON BRUINS CONFERENCE CALL BOSTON BRUINS GENERAL MANAGER PETER CHIARELLI AND BRUINS FORWARD BRAD MARCHANDPeter Chiarelli's opening statement...I just want to announce the signing of Brad Marchand. It took a little while but I'm very happy to have signed Brad to two years. He was a terrific performer in the playoffs, a clutch performer and just loves to play, plays on the edge and we're really excited to have him with the Bruins for two more years. I told Brad today that at the end of last year he told me he was going to score twenty goals and he scored more than that and I told him I was proud of him and he deserves it. He's a good kid and we're happy to have him in the mix.

Brad Marchand's opening statement...Thanks Peter, I appreciate those comments. Again I just want to thank the Jacobs family and Peter and Don Sweeney who I also dealt with and the Bruins organization for getting this contract done. I was very, very excited to get this over with and now I have the opportunity to focus on camp and I know it took a little while over the summer but you know, the whole summer long we were focusing on hockey and I'm very excited and very prepared for this season and very proud to be back in a Bruins uniform.

On how important it was to get the deal done before camp started...PETER CHIARELLI: It was important. I didn't think that it would get to that stage. Brad's always told me that he wants to be here and be part of the Bruins and I know the work that Don Sweeney put in and Brad's representative. It was- they put in some good time and I had a feeling it would get done. It's nice to finish this business before camp because you fall behind in camp and it's hard to catch up so I didn't think it would get to that stage and it didn't.

BRAD MARCHAND: Yeah, from the get-go I never, I never was going to miss a day of camp. I never wanted that. I wanted to be here first day, I wanted to show them all I wanted to be here and go through the whole camp with the guys and be part of the team and you know, I'm very happy that it didn't have to come down to that and we were able to get the deal done before camp. You know again, now we can move forward.

On if other term lengths were ever discussed and why two years was decided upon... PETER CHIARELLI: It was just, you know, in these negotiations, you talk about a lot of different things and we did with this one and we found that this term was probably best for both parties and it gives some security. It gives Brad the ability to come back in a couple of years and negotiate with us again and it just, it was just something that was a fit here. But we did talk about a bunch of different terms.

BRAD MARCHAND: I think Peter said it perfectly. It's a great fit for, you know, for both of us. I'm very happy with the term and he did mention that we talked about a little longer and I think that was just more about a little more security but, you know, I think this again was a perfect fit for both parties.

On if Marchand will be unrestricted when this contract is up rather than an RFA....BRAD MARCHAND: No, I believe I still have two more years. Peter?

PETER CHIARELLI: Correct.

On if there were particular obstacles they had to overcome that led to the delay of finishing the deal and what those obstacles were...PETER CHIARELLI: These deals that come up of entry level deals are -- they're hard deals to negotiate for both sides. There's an element of- where they don't have a year of arbitration so there's just sticky- there's sticking points along the negotiations and you've seen some other players that have waited this long so it's just, you know it's an area in the CBA where it's a tough negotiating time for the player with that status and Brad had that status. He had a terrific year and terrific playoffs so it's just, you know what, it's just, it's not a reflection on the Bruins, on us, or on Brad, it's just where he was in his career with regard to the CBA and you see it happening right across the league.

On whether or not other deals that happened involving similar situations influenced this deal...PETER CHIARELLI: These are all comparables and there's a whole list of comparables that you talk about and you know, again it was something that we worked on throughout the summer and deals come up, we discuss deals, we discuss where our offers are and you know, etc and eventually you get a deal done.

On how he thinks he can improve as a player during this season...BRAD MARCHAND: Well I think the main reasons for saying that in the first place is I was fighting to even get on the team and figured maybe that would help, just plant a seed in their heads. But there's always room for every player to improve. I think a big part that I still want to improve is my defensive game. You know you watch guys like Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] and Krech [David Krejci] and you know they're a couple of the top guys on our team and in the league and they're so defensively strong, so that's another big area I want to continue to improve on. But you can always improve every area of your game.

On if he wants to make any predictions or big statements about his performance this coming season...BRAD MARCHAND: No, that's ok, I'll just try and go and work hard.

On if he was nervous that the deal would not get done before camp started...BRAD MARCHAND: I don't think I was getting nervous, no. I was just getting anxious. I was you know, as camp approaches, you know, I wanted to be there and I was very excited to get under way. You know, we both knew something was going to get done, it was just a matter of time and that's all it was. I was never worried that it was going to drag out and prolong into camp, you know, I knew it was going to get done and it was just a matter of time and, you know, what day we'd finish up here before camp started.

On if Don Sweeney was more involved in putting together this particular deal than in past deals...PETER CHIARELLI: Oh Donny handles a lot of the negotiations we- we meet obviously and discuss strategies and everything but Donny's done a lot of our negotiations and he did this one.

On whether he thinks the new trend of players' salary reaching higher levels, faster is troubling for the league's economy...PETER CHIARELLI: Well it's an area I know that we've discussed at the GM level and not to begrudge the players, not to begrudge Brad for getting it- he certainly deserves something like this but you know, it's just, I don't know how it came about. It might have been the condensed time period of your restricted status but it's, it's an element of the business, of the game now and you try and make do with what you get and you know, I have no other real response than that. It's something that- there's a phenomenon that's happened and you deal with it.

On Marchand improving his ability to control his emotions and other improvements he's working on...BRAD MARCHAND: I feel like throughout the year I got better at controlling my emotions. There was times in playoffs where they got the best of me but you know, for the most part the coaching staff did a great job at leading me in the right direction and I felt- I feel as if the older you get, the more mature you get and the more you play in this league you know, the better I'll be able to learn how to control it. You know, I'm still a young player, I'm still trying to learn so you know, that's all part of the game for the most part though, for the rest of my game I just want to get better all around. You know I said, you want to work towards being the best player and to do that you got to fix- you got to continually work on every area of the game so that's a goal.

On if he believes the core of the team has become the young guys and the older ones have become the 'add-ons'...PETER CHIARELLI: I got to be careful how I answer this or the old guys will take me out. The old guys now are 28, 29 years old versus 24, 25, 23. The way I see it is, it's just you know, there's players that you want that are- that have certain attributes, certain values and you want them to continue to be part of your organization and Brad is one of those and you know, the- we have a young element to our core but we've got some experienced players that I wouldn't characterize as 'add-ons'- that they're pretty important also and I think Brad can attest to this that the more experienced players help him along the way and help him you know, become a good professional and they're obviously very important parts of the team and the challenge is getting the right mix. But certainly what Brad has done and how he plays and how he represents the organization is important to us.

On if the team has a shot at repeating as champs based on the strength of the core that has returned...BRAD MARCHAND: Yeah, we definitely- I know around the room we all definitely agree that we have a great opportunity again this year. Everyone's very excited. You know, we've only lost a couple of guys but [Benoit] Pouliot and [Joe] Corvo have come in, they're both great players and from what it looks like in camp there's a lot of great young guys that are going to be battling for spots so it's, we have a great opportunity again this year and again we are going to have to come in and make sure that we don't take it for granted and think that it's going to be easy because we won last year. But the way it looks, everybody's very hungry and I do believe that we have a great opportunity again this year.

Sunday, September 11, 2011 BOSTON BRUINS ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER JIM BENNINGOn Sunday's practice…They practiced the power play today and breakout, so we’re looking forward to seeing the guys perform in the games next couple of days.

On what is said going into games…I think anytime they play they’re going to play to win. We told them to just show what they’re good at. If they’re skaters, skate. If they’re skilled guys, use their skill. If they’re hitters, you know, we got a good mix of a lot of different things in the group. They’re all here for a reason so just to go out there and show why they’re here and put their best foot forward.

On what can be learned from these next two games coming up…I think you learn a lot. You learn what their make up is, how hard they’re going to compete in a game situation when the pressure is on them, like what are they made of? The skill guys, are they going to create plays or are they going to create scoring chances. So usually what happens when they play under pressure their skill or their toughness or whatever they’re here to show, should come to the top so that’s what we’re hoping to see from all the guys. All their different skill sets and toughness. We have some physical defensemen, we got some defensemen that can skate and handle the puck. We have skilled forwards but yet on the other side we got some big strong guys that hit and are going to look after their teammates, too. So it should be interesting. I’m looking forward to see how they perform as a group.

On fighting in the next two games…I don’t exactly know the rules, but I think for the most part, it’s going to be about playing the game hard, and if stuff gets out of control I think the guys will look after themselves or take care of you know if there’s fighting to be done that’s taken care of. The guys are out there to show what they can do and they show that by playing so I would think that it’ll just be a hard fought clean game. I’ve seen their lineup, they have some skilled guys dressed and we have some skilled guys dressed so it should be a good fast game

On who will start on Monday…We talked about that this morning, I think Hutchinson is going to play the first game and they’re going to decide after the first game how they’re going to do the second game.

On Michael Hutchinson…I think with him, he was a young goalie that had a good skill set because he’s big. But with him it’s finding the consistency to pay hard to compete every night in goal and if he lets in a bad goal to bounce back and not letting it get to him. So far it’s just been a couple days at camp. We’ll see how he plays in his games but I think he’s shown an improvement. Like last year, he had kind of an up-and-down year. At times he was really good and at other times he struggled but I think for him to keep getting better is if he improves his consistency and so far he’s showing that he can keep developing and being a good goalie.

On David Warsofsky…He’s a guy that’s a very good skater. He plays with his head up, he moves well with the puck, his transition game is excellent, his ability to walk the line on the power play to get pucks through to the net, that’s his game. So he’s never going to be a big hitter or physical player but if he’s skating carrying the puck moving the puck and creating offense, in almost every team now, whether its in Winnipeg, there are guys that are his size that are playing in the NHL now because of skill sets. So we’re hoping he can develop into that type of an offensive puck moving defensemen for us.

On anyone who stood out today…Dodero, the defensemen, I think so far he’s looked pretty good. He’s a big guy and he can move fairly well and he moves the puck. The Stokes boy, he’s a strong guy who’s a good skater. He’s a hitter and more physical player so I’m looking forward to see what he can do in the games. Presizniuk? I haven’t noticed him too much. Hood, he made a nice play over there to Cantin when they were scrimmaging and stuff so we’ll see.

On the leadership in the group…Well not so much because it’s lot of young guys just trying to find their way, so I think all the young kids come to their first camp having been a little bit nervous, so we don’t really look for that so much in this rookie camp. I guess as camp progresses we’ll see. I know Cantin is kind of the “rah rah” on his teams he’s played for. In the past, he’s been a team leader and stuff and, well, I know Zach McKelvie is a leader going to west point and going through the army training and stuff. He’s an impressive young man, so I think we have good leadership in the group.

On who will be wearing captain letters…We don’t know yet.

On Alexander Khokhlachev…This is his first training camp. From the summer development camp till now, the last two months he put in a lot of hard work to lower his body fat and I think his skating has improved a bit. He’s a skill player, he dives and darts into holes and handles pucks and he can turn on a dime on loose guys. He’s going to be a good player, but it’s going to take time for him to keep getting in better shape and keep working hard and stuff. So I think he’s the type of guy in that game tomorrow, you’ll see his skill set come through because he’s so nifty with the puck it’s almost like he’s got eyes in the back of his head to set up plays and stuff. So he’ll be a guy that I’ll be watching for tomorrow because I think he’ll be setting up some plays.

On assignments during the rookie games…I think it’s going to be pretty open where everybody is going to be able to play and show what they can do in different situations so I don’t know if he’ll be killing penalties or not. Like Ridderwall is a good two way player, good penalty killer, I would think he’d be a guy killing penalties. I mean we have other guys too but just as an example. But I don’t know if he’ll be killing penalties or not.

On Marc Cantin…When we talked about signing him we see him in a Mark Stuart type mold. He’s going to play hard, he’s going to play physical, he’s going to step up in the neutral ice and hit guys. He’s not a fancy player, he’ll make a first pass and play a simple hard physical stay at home play.

Saturday, September 10, 2011 BOSTON BRUINS ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER JIM BENNINGOn how the rookies are progressing…I thought everybody skated hard and competed, so it should be good going into these games to see the spirit of the group we have and they look good so far. So I’m looking forward to that.

On Zach McKelvie…He’s a great skater. So he hasn’t played competitive hockey in a couple of years from college, but because he’s such a good skater and he moves well out there and he’s a competitive kid, I think his timing will be off a little bit I think to start off, but I think once he gets his timing I think he could turn out to be a good player for us.

On what type of defensemen MeKelvie is…He’s a transitional player because he can skate so well, get back, get the puck, and he’ll either be able to carry it out or make a first pass to get the puck up ice or he’ll jump into play to join the play to help out in the offensive end. You know? So he’s a good two way player. But, like I said, he hasn’t played competitively in a couple of years so it might take him a little bit to get his timing back to show what he can really do because we like him as a prospect. He’s a high character kid and his physical tools are good so once he gets his timing back he should be competitive at camp.

On having two goalies instead of three…Yeah, well it’s a good number as long as we don’t run into an injury. I don’t know how exactly they’re going to split the games. In practices I think it’s fine to get the guys shots and get them ready for the games. And I don’t know exactly if they’re going to split one game each, I haven’t talked to the coaches about that but having two goalies in practice works out okay.

On David Warsofsky having a leg up with college experience…Well, yeah, because he’s a little bit older. That’s the first thing, they’re a little bit older and if they’re a little bit older they’re a little more mature physically. I think in successful organizations there’s three levels of depth. We talk about depth on the NHL team, so there’s competition from within for jobs and for ice time. Our second level or tier of depth we talk about is guys that have signed pro contracts and are looking to make the big team and playing in the AHL. So David Warsofsky’s in that group. And Colby Cohen is in that group and they’re looking to push for an NHL job. And our third level of depth that we talk about is our junior and college age kids. Our college age kids aren’t here in camp this week because they have school. But this group out here is some of our top junior age kids and from what I’ve seen in the last couple of days the future looks good.

On Ryan Button…Ryan’s a good skater. He’s put in the work off the ice. He’s gotten physically stronger. So he knows, now that he’s been to two training camps, the speed and the strength of the NHL players so we’re looking to him as one of the guys who has been here a couple of years to take the next step and show what he can do and compete at main camp.

On Carter Camper…He’s not big but he’s quick and he’s strong. He’s strong on the puck and he makes plays with the puck and so he should have a good camp. He’s got the hockey sense and the hands and the skill to compete with the older guys so we’re looking to him to be producing offensively and he should have a good camp for us.

On Tyler Randell…Last year, he really came into his own as a player. He was at the top at the OHL in fighting, he stuck up for his teammates all the time and not only that the offensive side of his game like going to the net, getting rebounds, getting tip-ins, really took a step forward so he’s ready for pro now and we’re looking forward to seeing what he does at camp and how he progresses. But I would say this last year as a player he really progressed.

Friday, September 9, 2011 BOSTON BRUINS ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER JIM BENNINGOn what he saw during the first practice…Well the guys all showed up in good shape. The guys that were at development camp, they put in the work the last couple of months and they all look good. So I mean, we’ll see. They’ll play their exhibition games on the Island and we’ll decide who comes to main camp from there.

On whether camp is different coming in this year as defending Stanley Cup champs…I don’t think so. I think everybody’s excited, you know, everybody’s excited to come to camp to start it up again this year. So I think everybody’s come in good shape and they’re putting their best foot forward and see what they can show in these exhibition games going forward.

On anything unusual at testing compared to July…No, the testing results were all excellent. All the kids came in good shape. That’s a positive.

On how Hamilton has progressed…Well he looked real good today I thought he’s skating well. From the summer he weighed in at 188 and was 194 today so he put on 5-6 lbs of muscle. He’s a young player and he’ll continue to get stronger and bigger. He’s going to be a good player it’s just going to be a matter of time with him

On Hamilton and Knight’s world junior camp experiences…I think it helps them. Anytime you can play for your country, represent your country, it’s exciting. And you’re playing against the best players in the world. So for those guys to be involved in those camps being with the best players it’s only going to make them better. So it’s good for them and it’s good for our organization that they’re getting their opportunity to go to those camps and to see where they stand and hopefully make those teams.

On matching Hamilton up with veteran players…We don’t want to put him in a situation that he can’t handle. So, like I said, we’re going to evaluate all the players in these two games against the Islanders and there will be players in this group that will be invited to the main camp and they’ll see how they do at the main camp and from there the coaches and Peter will decide if they play exhibition games or not. That’s still a long ways off, that’ll take care of itself with time.

On the possible talent upgrade in prospects over the next few years…Well I think we have good depth this year for sure. Every year that we’re here we’re able to add more, depth-wise. Ridderwall came in, his number’s were excellent, and his body fat, and he looks like a guy he’s come in good shape and wants to know the people and the organization so he looks good. Camper, the same thing. You know, we’ll see. It’s a big step from playing junior hockey, playing college hockey to coming to their first camp or second camp and seeing where they stack up against, first of all, with the younger guys, the younger guys from other teams and then going to main camp and then if they’re able to play in the exhibition game. So it’s a learning process for them. I think they put themselves in a position to show us what they can do so that’s a good thing.

On the benefits of guys like Camper who got a taste of the pro game last year…They understand the speed and the strength involved as you go up levels whether it’s the NHL, AHL, or they have a good understanding of how fast, how strong the guys are as you keep going up the ladder so they’ve come in excellent shape and I’m sure they’re going to put on a good showing as to what they can do to progress.

On Khokhlachev’s improvement in preparedness for this camp…Prospect camp is a learning experience for a lot of these kids and he learned a lot from that. His body fat came down a lot from two months ago so he’s really worked hard from two months ago till today so it’s been good. We’ll see if it translates on the ice for him, he looked a little quicker out there today but it’s a learning experience and a process for all these young players.

On who gets to move on from rookie camp…All the players are going to be given a fair opportunity in these exhibition games coming up. And from there the guys we feel deserve to be at main camp will be invited to main camp so we’re going to sit down after these games and decide who deserves to come and if you put on a good showing and you do the work you’re going to get to come.

On how it’s going to be harder this year for a young player to surprise everyone and make the team now that the team is the Stanley Cup champ...I would tend to agree with you...since the team won the Stanley Cup but we don’t know for sure. We’re just going to have to go through the process of this camp and main camp. And the one thing about Peter and Claude, if a player deserves to be on the team, then they find a way to get the player on the team. With time, that’ll work itself out.

On where Knight and Spooner stand…They went through the process last year so they understand the size and the speed of the NHL players and the AHL players so they’ve showed up in excellent shape, both of them. So I’m sure as we go through camp, they’ll be able to show everything that they’ve got as players because they’ve given themselves an opportunity to show, coming in to camp in such good shape.

On Ryan Spooner’s physical condition...Ryan Spooner came in in better shape. His body fat was down, his weight was up, his strength was up, and that’s the learning process we talk about with young players and he’s put in a lot of work this summer and so far it’s showed up. So I’d expect that the further we go into camp we’ll see the results from the work he’s put in.